ING Real Estate has announced the opening of the first phase of the City Square scheme in Genk, Belgium. The first phase of this mixed-use scheme includes 19 retail units, fully leased to an attractive mix of international, national and local brands including C&A, Mexx and The Body Shop.
The City Square project is a public-private partnership covering a large-scale reconstruction of the Genk city centre. The partnership comprises the City of Genk, ING Real Estate and Belgian developers Democo and Cordeel. The scheme includes approximately 15,500 m² retail space (29 units) sold to Redevco, an underground car park with 752 spaces sold to QPark, 99 appartements and a four start design hotel operated by the Different Hotel Group. The City of Genk is building a new City Library and has taken responsibility for the construction of three new public squares.
The second phase of 10 retail units and the hotel are scheduled to open in March/April 2008. The City Library will open in autumn 2008. The apartments will be also delivered in the course of next year.
Menno Maas, CEO ING Real Estate Development, said: "The Genk City Square project is yet another example of inner city regeneration, combining retail space, cultural functions and public space. We applied the know how we built up over the years in similar projects in Nijmegen, Groningen, Haarlem, Leeuwarden in the Netherlands as well in Hull, UK, and Stuttgart, Germany."
Source: ING Real Estate
