Antwerp's Stadsfeestzaal opens its doors

With the completion of the Stadsfeestzaal shopping mall in Antwerp's city centre, Dutch developer Multi Corporation has added a 'jewel' to its real estate portfolio, according to managing director Marleen de Wolf.

Stadsfeestzaal is a 'unique project', comparable only to Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II in Milan, or Gallery Sinat Hubert in Brussels, De Wolf said yesterday at a press conference where the project was presented to the press. 'The projects in Milan and Brussels were created as shopping galleries from the beginning. But the Stadsfeestzaal was originally a public building, and then transformed into a retail destination'.

Antwerp's newest shopping centre will open its doors on 25 October 2007. Satdsfeestzaal was originally built in 1907 as a city centre building for cultural events and concerts. In the 1990's the city had already started looking for a new function for the mall, but it was not until 1997 that Antwerp's municipality organised a competition to revamp the building and transform it into a commercial site.

Today Stadsfeestzaal offers about 20,500 m² of shopping space over four storeys, as well as 40 apartments. The centre also includes 675 parking spaces and 700 m² of restaurants and bars. Designed by T&T Design and Danish architect firm Exners Tegnestue, the new scheme has preserved much of its neoclassical details. A specialised architect Romain Berteloot was hired for this purpose. The gold-leaf-finished stucco, the marble monumental staircase as well as a spacious interior square with an enormous glass dome have been retained from the original scheme. But the striking Laurent Perrier champagne glass bar is completely new and is a creation of architect Nino Graziosi. The glass, which serves as a champagne bar among other things, offers a great view of the 7.5 metre-high restored hall .

Major tenants include Urban Outfitters, an American chain of lifestyle shops, which will open its first branch here on the European continent. But also Nike, COS, Tommy Hilfiger Tailormade, Salsa, Sabon, La Place, Saturn, Crocs, Lloyd Shoes, Onara and Leon Mode will open their first Belgian outlets at Stadsfeestzaal. 'We had no problem finding tenants for this mall,' De Wolf said. 'The problem was more how to let it well.'

The mall is located between Antwerp's two most important shopping streets. Half of the project has been sold off to the Bank of Ireland which approached the company last year with a generous bid of EUR 57.5 mln for a 50% stake. Multi owns the remaining stake and plans to keep it as a long- term investment in its portfolio. De Wolf would not disclose the size of the investment sum, but said 'it was a significant part of the EUR 115 mln market value of the property'.