Centro Ovale: Conversion plans fail
The online travel agency Lastminute.com will not move with its approximately 400 employees to the former Centro Ovale shopping center in Chiasso.
How the Handelszeitung writesThe conversion of the retail space to office space could not take place because Lastminute.com has now abandoned the project. The reason for this is "unexpected, externally caused delays and the objection of a third party".
In spring 2017, the online travel agency had announced its intention to repurpose the nearly vacant egg-shaped shopping mall and convert it into office space. Originally, a move by January 2018 had been envisaged. According to Lastminute.com CEO Fabio Cannavale, this deadline could no longer be met.
Centro Ovale was built in 2011 and has been largely vacant since the end of 2015. A single tenant still remains there. The property is considered Switzerland's first "dead mall." The shopping center project in Chiasso ultimately collapsed, mainly due to the fact that many Swiss people go shopping in nearby countries and the Swiss National Bank's abandonment of the fixed euro-franc exchange rate in January 2015.
