Dutch real estate group, Omnam Investment, has acquired the former main post office building in Rotterdam to transform it into a 24/7 business and leisure project based on the company's Ven Amsterdam scheme.
Amsterdam-based Omnam did not disclose the investment volume for the acquisition of the property, which is located on Rotterdam's Coolsingel.
The post office, one of the few historic buildings left in the centre of Rotterdam, comprises 25,000 m2 and has been vacant for five years. The redevelopment project is expected to cost €100 mln and will likely run until 2017.
To be renamed Ven Rotterdam, the project will draw inspiration from Omnam's planned transformation of the former headquarters of Dutch telecom group KPN in Sloterdijk, west Amsterdam.
That 28,000 m2 KPN property was for several years one of the largest empty office properties in the Netherlands, making it an unwanted poster-boy for the country's extremely high vacancy rates in the years after the Global Financial Crisis.
Omnam president and CEO, David Zisser, said that work would start soon to transform the vacant complex in Amsterdam into a futuristic 45,000 m2 business and entertainment complex that would be in use 24/7.
When Ven Amsterdam opens its doors by early 2017 it will feature a 476-room hotel and 4,000 m2 conference centre, a B-aparthotel with 59 apartments, a 5,000 m2 casino and 6,000 m2 of retail.
In Rotterdam, Omnam intends to preserve much of the original qualities of the property, while adding high-end apartments, a five-star hotel, retail and a fitness centre.
