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Next week, the billion dollar project The Circle at Zurich Airport will be open to the public for the first time. The commercial mile and the new airport park will open on Thursday, November 5. It is not yet clear how many will actually visit the new airport area that day. It should be less than originally planned. Some will probably only participate virtually in the opening ceremonies.
The crisis of the crown has also left its mark here. The opening was originally scheduled for September. But the pandemic caused construction delays. Most restaurants and shops will open next week, including Jelmoli, duty-free vendors Dufry, Läderach and a pop-up shop for the Zurich Soeder care brand.
Corona causes starting difficulties
The hotel and convention center are not expected to start operating until December. This is likely to be a difficult start for the large project in which around 1 billion Swiss francs have been invested.
The direct connection to the busy Zurich airport should be a guarantee of success. Now, almost no international passengers will end up on the shopping mile. Also, very few business travelers will stay at the Hyatt hotel. For the moment, there shouldn’t be congresses either.
New Swiss technology hotspot
While the shopping mile won’t open until next week, some of the office tenants have already moved in. The Circle will become a technology hotspot in Switzerland with the Swiss headquarters of SAP, Microsoft and Oracle. With MSD and Novo Nordisk, two pharmaceutical companies are also represented.
So far, no stakeholder has pulled out due to the corona pandemic, says Raffaela Stelzer, a Zurich airport media spokesperson. “With regard to rent, we are surprised how little the Corona crisis affected us,” he says.
But when it comes to office space, the home office problem is already felt: “Potential tenants are considering how big their rental space will have to be compared to today if the home office is used every time. more, “Stelzer tells BLICK. The office space in five of the six buildings, as well as all the catering areas, are currently fully rented. Almost 10,000 of the total 70,000 square meters of office space remain vacant.
