Emil Frey Group acquires adjacent site

Locals will have noticed that the Löwen restaurant in Sihbrugg closed at the end of August. This is because the adjacent Emil Frey company has acquired the site for expansion.

For years the Löwen at number 1 Zugerstrasse was a highly respected restaurant in the locality well known for serving good food. Now those who wish to eat out locally will have to go to the Dukes restaurant or the Krone gourmet restaurant and hotel on the other side of the River Sihl.

The Emil Frei Group had already acquired the Auto Iten AG company in March of 2017, and now the former has acquired this site from Mauro Ceotto, the former managing director of Auto Iten.

As Adrian Büchler, the managing director of the Kalono Immobilien AG property company, which runs the sites occupied by the Emil Frey Group, said that, when the possibility of acquiring the adjacent site came up, they jumped at it.

Emil Frey AG is one of the leading importers of cars with over 50 branches in Switzerland. Its current site in Sihlbrugg covers 10,000 square metres, 1,600 of which is given over to displaying vehicles for sale.

Hubert Annen, the managing director of the Sihlbrugg branch, said the company could well do with the extra space, not least after it took over the Jaguar and Land Rover dealership of the A. Huber garage earlier this year.

Alterations are already in progress on the current Emil Frey premises. As to precisely what will happen on the adjoining site where the restaurant is, this not yet known. Büchler himself said the company had not yet made up its mind, possibilities ranging from a new building for the garage, a new hotel or just parking space.

And what about the 50-year-old premises of the restaurant itself? Might they be demolished or let out for someone else to run? Only later this year will we know.