Intervest Retail has announced that it is considering redeveloping the present Van De Ven shopping centre in Olen into a unique, innovative new-generation shopping park in order to exploit the retail site’s potential to the optimum.
The property investment fund that specialises in commercial premises is thinking specifically of an open air park based on the themes of “home”, “garden” and “hobbies & leisure” with a generous range of services and facilities, 35,000 m² in size and nestling in pleasant surroundings. The overall concept is intended to provide visitors with the optimum shopping experience and represent commercial added value for tenants.
Under the provisional working name of Shopping Park Olen 2006 this unique project continues to build on the original success formula of Van De Ven: shopping as synonym for pleasure thanks on the one hand to a strong offering of well-defined themes and on the other sufficient recreational facilities for visitors (including organised events at regular times). Intervest Retail intends to use the redevelopment to breathe fresh life into the historically heavily visited site in order to make a commercial success of it once again.
The property investment fund hopes to have reached a definite decision on this case by mid 2005. It is a project that should mean a healthy injection into the local economy, not least due to the opportunities offered to the region’s retailers and the creation of an estimated 500 job opportunities. A first series of positive discussions has already been held with Olen municipal council, regarding among other things a joint approach in respect of mobility. Now there are to be consultations with a number of bodies in order to obtain the necessary permits. If the green light is given, then Intervest Retail will be aiming to have completed the redevelopment by the end of 2006.
Source: Intervest
