Around 3,500 interested people accepted the invitation to the WaltherPark spring festival in Bolzano on Friday, 22 March 2024 and celebrated the rapid progress of the construction site with Heinz Peter Hager and his team; the opening will take place in a year’s time.
When the construction site gates opened at 5 p.m. for the spring festival, hundreds of people were already waiting to get in – around 3,500 visitors were counted by the end. The festival on the construction site was not just a celebration – it was also: first-hand impressions of the construction progress on the largest private construction project in South Tyrol, first-hand information, a tour of the shopping centre and the upper floors with flats and offices and the modern city hotel, music and entertainment for young and old and a meeting place for the city as a whole. The event was attended by citizens of Bolzano, families with children, freelancers, representatives of the authorities and numerous onlookers.
The President of WaltherPark AG, Heinz Peter Hager, welcomed Mayor Renzo Caramaschi and his deputy Stephan Konder, Municipal Council President Christoph Buratti, Deputy Governor Marco Galateo and Provincial Councillor Christian Bianchi. Numerous South Tyrolean entrepreneurs, including Robert Blaas (Rothoblaas) and Norbert Gasser (Fruitservice), numerous architects such as Prof. Oswald Zöggeler, Arch. Alexander Zöggeler, Arch. Lukas Burgauner, numerous lawyers such as Igor Janes and Jakob Baldur Brugger, housing expert Heiner Schweigkofler, DIUK Director Andreas Mumelter, the coordinator of the city centre merchants of BZ Heartbeat, Angelika Huber, as well as representatives of institutions and organisations from all sectors.
Above all, however, numerous citizens were present, which particularly pleased Hager: “The WaltherPark is a very important project for urban development in Bolzano, here we are upgrading a central area with a completely new quality – and we are not realising this project for ourselves, but for the citizens of Bolzano and for visitors to the provincial capital.” In his words of welcome, he assured the audience that construction is progressing according to plan – more than 200 workers are currently on site. At the same time, marketing is also proceeding successfully; around 70 per cent of the space – commercial premises, flats and offices – has already been let. Hager: “The signs are good and we are working very hard. I am more than confident that we will meet here again in about a year’s time for the opening.”