Hotel Scaletta in S-chanf about to make a comeback
The Hotel Scaletta in the Upper Engadin community of S-chanf has been closed since 2013. This is now to change. The Scaletta S-chanf Foundation, established at the beginning of May, wants to comprehensively renovate and operate the historic hotel as part of a public-private partnership.
Located in the center of S-chanf, directly on the village square and in the immediate vicinity of the train station, the Hotel Scaletta has a long tradition as an accommodation and restaurant business, but has been vacant for seven years. The Scaletta S-chanf Foundation, founded at the beginning of May, has set itself the goal of structurally renovating and converting the historically valuable building into a sustainably functioning accommodation and restaurant business. The plan is to create a barrier-free boutique hotel (40 to 45 double rooms) in the medium price segment with a small wellness area, a public restaurant and a sun terrace directly on the village square.
Based on the historic structure characteristic of the site, new, larger rooms are to be installed in both the main building and the historic annex building as part of the renovation, and the previously empty attic is to be expanded with additional rooms to make it barrier-free. A two-season operation is planned for the hotel, whereby the restaurant can remain open all year round if required.
In order to ensure that the Hotel Scaletta does not become a speculative object, the Scaletta S-chanf Foundation was established and a purchase right agreement was concluded with the current ownership. In a first step, the foundation board wants to take care of the procurement and securing of the financial means for the acquisition, renovation, operation and maintenance of the property within the framework of a public-private partnership in order to ensure a sustainable operation of the hotel with village restaurant.
The foundation has budgeted investment costs of CHF 17 million for the overall project, i.e. from property acquisition to construction and conversion. The Hotel Scaletta with 23 employees is to ensure long-term value creation for S-chanf. It is assumed that the hotel will generate around 15-16,000 overnight stays per year and that the hotel's guests will generate value added in S-chanf and the region of around 9 million per year.
In the next few months, the project will be presented to the population at a public orientation meeting of the S-chanf community. The financial participation of the S-chanf municipality will be clarified and, in the event of approval, the foundation stone will be laid for the development of the preliminary project up to the submission of the building application. If there are no delays in the approval process, construction is scheduled to begin in the fourth quarter of 2021, with opening planned for the 2023 summer season. (bw)
