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🇨🇭 Switzerland /Economy & Trade

565 Parking Spaces and Room for Three Towers: Welcome to Baar, Vontobel’s New Home

From Neue Zürcher Zeitung · () German

Translated from German and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

In-depth Named sources New plan
  • Bank Vontobel plans to move its headquarters and 1,500 employees from Zurich to Baar in 2030, sending a shock through Zurich’s financial center.
  • The new site will include three towers, 565 parking spaces and lower-cost housing on a 10,000-square-meter development.
  • Baar combines transport access and proximity to Zug with the low-tax appeal that has attracted international companies and wealthy residents.

In Zurich, building on open land is a dream. In Baar, it is about to become reality. Construction on Bank Vontobel’s new headquarters in Unterfeld Süd, near the Lindenpark suburban rail station, is due to begin within months.

The Zurich banking institution announced this week that it would move its headquarters and 1,500 employees to Baar in 2030. The decision sent a shock through Zurich’s financial center and raised an uncomfortable question: did taxes alone drive a traditional Zurich bank away, or does Baar offer advantages that the city cannot?

The Zug canton has attracted international companies such as Amgen, Glencore and Siemens for years with its low taxes. But local officials say Vontobel has also found an exceptional site. Finance chief Mark Gustafson calls the property “a prime piece of land,” citing its strong transport connections and location between Baar and the city of Zug.

The site is a prime piece of land.

· Mark GustafsonBaar’s finance chief praised the location selected for Vontobel’s future headquarters.

The 10,000-square-meter development will create a new residential and commercial district with three towers measuring 60, 50 and 40 meters. The site will also include lower-cost housing. Across from the future Vontobel headquarters stands the new office complex of private-equity firm Partners Group, which moved into its Baar headquarters in 2024.

The land had remained undeveloped for years. Residents rejected an initial development proposal in a 2017 vote, but acceptance is now high, according to Baar’s construction chief Zari Dzaferi. “There were hardly any objections or appeals,” he said, attributing the change to better public involvement. Dzaferi supports the municipality’s urban expansion but says the benefits of new development must reach everyone. The article ends as Gustafson begins describing how the bank arranged its relocation negotiations in secret.

There were hardly any objections or appeals.

· Zari DzaferiBaar’s construction chief described local acceptance of the development.
About this summary

Originally published by Neue Zürcher Zeitung in German. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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