Lausanne voters to decide on ‘tallest tower’

The municipality announced on Wednesday the date for a special stand-alone vote on the 85-metre Taoua building earmarked for a site next to the Beaulieu convention and exposition centre.

The 100-million-franc project is promoted by developer Losinger Marazzi.

Incorporating a 200-room hotel and rooftop restaurant with 80 condos and rental apartments, it earlier won support from a majority of city council.

However, opponents collected more than 10,700 signatures to put the development, which would create the Vaud capita’s tallest building, to a public vote, well above the 8,443 needed.

The group against the tower, including neighbourhood organizations and a cross-section of politicians, fear the tower would stick out like a sore thumb in an area on a slope overlooking Lake Geneva where the tallest buildings are no more than six storeys high.

Lausanne’s Green Mayor Daniel Brélaz is an ardent supporter of the project, which has been redesigned since first being proposed in 2011.

Brélaz has been particularly enthusiastic about the tower’s planned panoramic restaurant, touting the views it would have over the city, Lake Geneva and the Alps

Olivier Français, the executive municipal councillor in charge of public works and a member of the centre-right PLR (Liberals) party, said the building would integrate perfectly into the site.

It would be located on the route for the Vaud capital’s planned third metro line.