Anyone who has taken a train into Zurich's main station and looked out the window has probably seen them: the Zurich houses in the city of Zurich.Image: Watson
The current situation in Zurich's houses in Zurich is infuriating, but there's more to it than first meets the eye. The heiress may have just cause to terminate the contract. But in the process, he fell into the trap of a scammer.
“It's a great Christmas gift,” said Paul M., who spoke on condition of anonymity. He didn't mean what he said. on the contrary. This week, the postman brought him a registered letter that shocked him: He was being evicted from his apartment.
It's not just Paul M. who has until March 31, 2025, to leave the apartment with his wife and three children, ages 9, 11 and 18. As Watson disclosed yesterday, there are 104 other tenants living in the so-called “Sugus houses” at Neugasse 81, 83 and 85 in Zurich. Many of them are young families like Paul M.:
“If we all had to leave, the community would be torn apart.”
Mitt Paul M.*
It is unrealistic for tenants to find an affordable apartment in the same area. And all this took less than four months. Children will have to change schools and lose their friends and environment. Entire classes will be broken up midway through the school year. Adults lose the friendships they might have found and maintained among their neighbors.
What is currently happening in Ward 5 actually contradicts everything the people who built Sugars House promised 25 years ago.
It should be family friendly and affordable
The year is 1990. SBB has a free space along the railway tracks in front of Zurich's main train station in District 5. A so-called X-ray zone is created here. The stated aim is to provide affordable apartments, especially suitable for families. City residents are already concerned about a growing shortage of affordable living space.
Therefore, SBB announced a competition for the region. SBB and the city of Zurich jointly selected the winning project: nine free-standing, identically designed residential buildings designed by architect duo Isa Stürm and Urs Wolf, designed to “offer a wide range of living arrangements and facilities”. These are plans for the future Sugus houses, named for their rectangular shape and colorful exterior.
This is what the Suggs house looked like.Image: Watson
The idea sounds good. But SBB encountered difficulties in finding a construction company that could and wanted to realize this vision. It wasn't until 1998 that they found what they were looking for with the help of builder and entrepreneur Leopold Bachmann. Leopold Bachmann completed the construction of the Suggs house in record time. As early as April 2000, 317 tenants were able to move in.
Some people call him the “national cheap farmer” and “fast farmer”. In 2004, for example, the business magazine Wohnen accused Leopold Bachmann of risking his buildings having to be renovated in just ten or twenty years.
Other voices called Leopold Bachmann a “great philanthropist” and humanitarian. Because Bachmann has repeatedly emphasized that his first goal is to provide affordable housing for low-income people, especially families with children, as he told NZZ in 2009. Bachmann follows a humane approach in his rental policies: he focuses on “tenant mix” and says that at least 20% of the tenants in his Sugus homes should always be foreigners.
After just ten years of quality defects
Cheap farmer or philanthropist? The truth is probably somewhere in between. A study commissioned by the city of Zurich and published in 2010 by two sociologists showed this.
On the one hand, sociologists have drawn positive conclusions: residents feel very comfortable and settled in the X-ray area, make friends with their neighbors, and value daily interactions with all kinds of people. No one reported any conflicts due to cultural differences.
Furthermore, Leopold Bachmann's wish came true. According to sociologists, in 2010, more families with children lived in Sugus houses than in any other urban area. And those who once lived in Suggs' houses no longer want to move: “The settlement's relocation rate is well below the city average of 20 percent per year.”
But this coin has one drawback: its structural quality. In 2010, we saw exactly what Leopold Bachmann's critics had predicted.
“After ten years, everything fell apart (cheap equipment, etc.),” one tenant reportedly wrote in a questionnaire to two sociologists. Others reported cracks in the walls, poor building construction, mold, The cheap tiles in the bathroom need to be replaced, the drawers in the kitchen don't pull out, the silicone joints in the shower no longer hold, the room is poorly insulated or the window handles and ceiling plaster are falling off on a regular basis.
“In ten years everything will collapse (cheap equipment, etc.).”
Interview with tenants of Sugus House in 2010
Sociologists note that dissatisfaction with the quality of construction has increased significantly in a short period of time. In the first survey in 2002, only 14% of tenants complained about the quality of construction or workmanship. Two years later, in 2004, the figure was 24%. In 2010, half of tenants reported quality defects in Sugus homes.
Fourteen years have passed since the last survey. There are now likely to be more construction defects. It's difficult to assess whether these are worthy of a complete overhaul. Tenants who spoke to Watson said: No, a complete renovation is not necessary.
Check out the kitchen of one of three homes in Sugars that is about to undergo a complete renovation.Image: Watson
However, Allgood Property AG management found in a termination letter that the living conditions were “no longer reasonable.” To bolster that argument, the government posted pictures of cracks, mold and other defects on its website. Allgood Property AG wrote only three words:
“The cruel truth…”
allgood properties corp.
Among other things, Allgood Property AG quoted this official “statement” at Watson's request.Bild: Watson screenshot
Bachmann's daughter inherits three Sugar Houses
Allgood Property AG is not the new owner of the Sugus house. She was only employed by the administration.
Leopold Bachmann died in 2021 at the age of 88. He donated most of his fortune to his charity, the Leopold Bachmann Foundation. He left the Suggs house to his two sons and his daughter, Regina Bachman. The three men each received three blocks. At least that's what Tsuri.ch and Tages-Anzeiger write. Watson could not independently verify this information.
On the canton of Zurich's property information website, Watson received an error message when trying to find the owners of nine Sugus houses:
Error message in the official GIS browser of the Canton of Zurich.Image: Watson screenshot
The Bachmann Leopold Foundation did not want to comment on the case because it is not the owner of the property. Watson was unable to connect with Regina Bachmann. Your company “Regina Bachmann Immobilien Zug” has only been commercially registered since June 2024 and does not yet have a website.
However, the fact that Regina Bachman inherited only three houses in Sugars could explain why only three blocks of tenants received termination notices. Paul M. said to Watson:
“Why is it that only our district has 'unreasonable' living conditions, while everything in the other six neighborhoods is fine?”
He and many other tenants believe they know the answer: Regina Bachmann is citing a complete renovation as an argument so she can re-rent her 105 apartments for a higher return.
She left the “dirty work” of evicting families, pensioners and low-income earners to Allgood Property AG. But if she did, she might cut herself into her own flesh. Because there is a shady businessman hidden behind Allgood Property AG: Goran Zeindler.
dubious entrepreneur
“Our experience is your advantage!” Goran Zeindler shouted this slogan on LinkedIn in 2021 to promote his real estate company Albego Real Estate AG.
Goran Zeindler advertises one of his companies on LinkedIn. Today, the link to the company's website is nowhere to be found. Bild: Watson screenshot
However, Albego Real Estate AG no longer exists. Just like the seven other real estate and construction companies founded by Goran Zeindler over the past decade. Everyone is broke. Their losses were so large that the District Court in Hove (SZ) had to halt proceedings on several occasions “due to lack of assets”. This means that the AG no longer even has enough funds to pay for the procedure. Not to mention repaying creditors. There may be some of them.
On the Immoverwaltungsvergleich.ch platform, one user rated Albego Real Estate AG with one star in September 2024. and wrote:
«The company from Mr. Goran Zeindler is warned about his business practices of defrauding craftsmen and builders in Switzerland and abusing the CH system. Since around 2000, about 10 well-known companies (mainly AG) dating back to Goran Zeindler have gone bankrupt or mysteriously dissolved. At least four reports have been filed with the prosecutor's office. “
User entries about the company Goran Zeindler on Immoverwaltungsvergleich.ch.
Shortly after we first reported on the massive layoffs at Sugus, a Watson user contacted us with a similar story. The entrepreneur owed him ten thousand francs. Go one step further:
“Mr. Goran Zeindler is a liar!”
Watson could not independently verify the allegations. Allgood Property AG, based in Bar (ZG), declined to comment. At least she continues to make a lot of promises on her website. For example, “comprehensive services across the entire real estate sector.” And every role imaginable: builders, property managers and investors. The AG used the same image of the building that Goran Zeindlers used to advertise his bankrupt company.
Allgood Property AG, headquartered in Baar (ZG), is the only company founded by Goran Zeindler that is still liquid. However, how long this will last is a legitimate question. Has Suggs heiress Regina Bachman fallen into the trap of a con artist while ruining the colorful lives of an entire community?
