The Circle: Running smoothly in a year
Construction Site Tour: Anticipation is building, the sales teams are coming together, and the outlines of the new neighborhood right next to Zurich Airport are becoming increasingly clear. MK spent an afternoon getting a firsthand look at Switzerland’s largest construction site.
American author and business consultant John D. Kasarda once wrote that the best train stations of the past have become today's urban centers. And that today's best airports will one day be the urban centers of the future. And so, exactly one year from now, "The Circle" will open at Zurich Airport, a completely new format for our country in this form and volume. Under the motto "Business meets Lifestyle", a hub for entertainment, shopping, hotels, conferences, education and medicine is being created on 180,000 square meters. It is currently the largest construction site in Switzerland and the project is being jointly financed by Flughafen Zürich AG (51 percent) and Swiss Life; there is talk of an investment sum of over one billion Swiss francs.
A key partner in the Circle project will be the Hyatt hotel group, and Srdjan Milekovic, senior vice president operations for Europe, Africa and the Middle East, and head of sales and marketing Paul Dirksen have already positioned themselves. Their offering includes two hotels, several restaurants and bars, and an exciting meeting and event center. The largest hall will be able to host events for up to 1,500 guests; the Hyatt Regency will open 255 hotel rooms, and the slightly less expensive Hyatt Place will open its 300. Sales work is already in full swing, and this week Milekovic and Dirksen hosted a high-level group of industry insiders and opinion leaders from the greater Zurich area (pictured below). During the tour, the two Hyatt managers pointed out how compact their offer will be and how competitive the situation around Zurich Airport will be. After all, there are other openings in the immediate vicinity; for example, the hotels Intercity with 260 and Leonardo with 116 rooms. However, The Circle is likely to appeal more to the upscale clientele in terms of its concept alone; in other words, it is ideal for Hyatt's offerings.
The new outpatient health center of the university hospital is also worth mentioning; it offers interdisciplinary diagnostics, medical emergency consultations and therapy care on 10,000 square meters. So there's a lot of life coming into the new "round" at the airport - with hundreds of hotel guests every day and thousands of employees who will work there. The total of twelve catering establishments will therefore have plenty to do.
Text and photos: Daniel Tschudy
