The SwissTech Convention Center (STCC) on the EPFL campus will be handed over to the Confederation. The result of a public-private partnership, the convention center inaugurated in the spring of 2014 was financed by Credit Suisse, through two real estate funds, which owned it. The amount of the transaction amounts to nearly 140 million francs. EPFL remains a tenant.
“Credit Suisse Funds AG and the Board of the Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology (ETH) have agreed that the SwissTech Convention Center will be transferred to the Confederation as part of an early retrocession. Both parties believe that this transfer is advantageous. It requires the agreement of the Federal Council and the Federal Chambers”, announced the two parties on Wednesday in a press release.
The amount of the transaction amounts to 139.5 million francs and is at the level of the market value at the end of 2021, they specify. The transfer of ownership of the STCC is planned from 2024 until 2026 at the latest, subject to approval in Bern. The lease contract with EPFL has been extended for ten years as part of the new situation and now runs until 2054.
Profitability concerns
This solution is explained by SwissTech’s profitability difficulties. “While it has proven to be an important strategic element for the success of teaching and research at EPFL, the congress center has so far not been able to be operated profitably and this especially because of the Covid-19 pandemic. Discussions had been underway for a long time with a view to an early retrocession of the building, ”we explain.
“This solution has many advantages. It will make it possible to considerably reduce the operating costs of the congress centre, which is currently in deficit. This will improve the framework conditions allowing EPFL to fully exploit the potential of this strategic infrastructure, whether for the organization of scientific conferences or for other academic purposes”, says Matthias Gäumann, Vice-President of the EPFL.
Grounds separated in two
The STCC in Ecublens was built in 2010 with the adjacent Housing Center (student housing, shops, hotel and car park) by Credit Suisse Funds AG, acting on behalf of two real estate funds, each of which is half invested in the buildings . The sole tenant of the two buildings is EPFL, with a lease contract initially planned until 2044.
The agreement reached provides for the division into two of the existing surface rights land: one part for the STCC and the other for the Housing Center. This is what opens the possibility of an early retrocession of the part housing the STCC to the Confederation, underline the parties. The other part remains in the hands of the two real estate funds of Credit Suisse. EPFL remains the tenant for the two centres, with this ten-year extension.
The STCC is a setting of a thousand tons of glass and metal which houses a completely modular 3000-seat amphitheater. The plenary room can be transformed in fifteen minutes, going from an audience of 330, 468, 1670 or 2135 seats into a flat area. The Vaud Grand Council sat there from November 2020 to June 2021 due to the pandemic.
The construction of the North Quarter (STCC and Housing Center) cost 225 million francs, including 120 for the STCC. The annual rental for EPFL amounts to some 10 million francs.