The club X-tra Limmathaus should have given way to a start-up network. The city parliament has now put the plans on hold.
The X-tra operators rely on their anchoring with the people after 25 years: roller skate disco in the X-tra in 2014.
Is urban nightlife going to the dogs? The industry was hit hard by the corona restrictions. Now she has to fight against the repression. Several bars will close in the medium term, partly due to construction projects. For some industry representatives it seems like a mockery that one of the most important places in Zurich’s nightlife is to be pulled from the plug, namely the club X-tra Limmathaus.
The Limmathaus Foundation has to renovate the house because it is less and less complying with official requirements. Cost: 24 million Swiss francs. After the total renovation, the foundation wants a fresh start – without X-tra as a tenant, but with the Impact Hub start-up network. However, because the foundation cannot handle the renovation on its own, it has contacted the city. She was open to making a contribution, respecting the agreement between the foundation and Impact Hub.
Ordered two versions
However, now that taxpayers’ money is involved, politicians also have a say. In the city parliament there was resistance at the last minute. CFO Daniel Leupi (Greens) withdrew his loan proposal after a non-partisan group from SVP to SP to AL submitted a postulate. The demand: The city council should work out two usage variants for the Limmathaus: one variant Impact Hub, one variant X-tra. The city should take its time to think about what it wants in this place.
So there are two concepts. The Impact Hub promises an open center for exchange, culture and innovation. There should still be concerts and parties. But there should also be space for studios or a neighborhood center. The X-tra operators, on the other hand, speak of a house of music. In addition to the concert hall, there will be co-working spaces for the music industry as well as recording studios and rehearsal rooms.
In the council, Alan David Sangines (SP) spoke on Wednesday about many open questions that made a “march stop” necessary – from the circumstances of the award to the Impact Hub to the question of whether the Limmathaus can be renovated in stages or closed for two years have to be.
“Both good deals”
Walter Angst (AL) found that the local council by no means lacked enough information. The hall must continue to be used as a concert hall, there must be a minimum of concert events. And of course a refurbishment in stages is indicated and not a two-year break. Angst thus clearly supported the “X-tra model” with its demands.
The FDP municipal councilor Përparim Avdili praised the fact that both X-tra and Impact Hub are good offers for Zurich’s creative industries. The FDP is in favor of stopping the march, but that doesn’t mean that you prefer one concept or the other, but that an interpretation is needed. “We must not play one against the other offer.” There must be room for both.
In the end, however, the city will have to decide on one of the two tenants. They are pulling a rope in the background. “Both sides lobby very hard and write us letters,” said Sangines. Ultimately, those entitled to vote at the ballot box will probably have the last word. For now, the deal has been frozen indefinitely.