Bankrupt Zurich cultural establishment: will the cosmos become a mainstream cinema?
Will the cosmos become mainstream cinema?
According to rumours, Swisscom Blue Cinema and a large Zurich catering company are the most promising applicants for the vacant cosmos on Europaallee.
The Kosmos cultural center went bankrupt last December. Since then it has been dark in the concrete building between Europaallee and Lagerstrasse. That could change soon: like the business online magazine «tip point» reported that Swisscom Blue Cinema and Candrian Catering are said to have applied for the Kosmos successor. The magazine relies on several sources not named in the report.
According to an anonymous source, the joint application by Swisscom and Candrian should even be awarded the contract with “sufficient probability”. The SBB will decide, they own the property.
This would mean that two industry giants would take over the cosmos. Swisscom’s Blue Cinema is one of the largest cinema operators in Switzerland. The focus is on Hollywood blockbuster films. Blue Cinema operates four cinemas with two dozen screens in the city of Zurich alone, including the Abaton and the Corso. Candrian runs over 45 restaurants, including Clouds in the Prime Tower, the Brasserie Lipp near the Urania and various restaurants in the main station such as Burger King and the Federal.
Not the only applicants
The potential Kosmos successors stand in stark contrast to Kosmos before bankruptcy. This was always trying to find an alternative coat of paint. There were many art house films in the cinema, art books in the bookstore and political panels. In the early days, Kosmos refused to work with the Zurich Film Festival because “bling bling” be.
On request, the SBB stated that they were taking the “necessary time” to make the successor decision. The call for applications was made just before Christmas. It is clear that Swisscom and Candrian are not the only candidates. Arthouse Commercio Movie AG and the restaurants Commercio Piccadilly AG have also “expressed an initial interest”, as Arthouse confirmed to this newspaper. One is currently examining the realization and submission of an offer.
It should be clear by the end of the first quarter of 2023 at the earliest who will be awarded the contract. The new operation should “do something similar” for the Europaallee as the cosmos used to, write the SBB. They had originally invested over eight million Swiss francs in the interior design.
The bankruptcy of Kosmos was accompanied by mutual finger-pointing between former and current board members and shareholders. With the closure of Kosmos, 71 employees lost their jobs.
Note: The original version of this article incorrectly stated that the art house cinemas had applied for the cosmos. It is correct that the submission of an offer is checked.
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