The restructuring of the Food Center in West has been discussed for a long time. This restructuring was already carried out by the municipal council in 2005, and the plan is now to renovate the business park, in combination with 1,700 homes. The plan is slowly starting to take shape, but there is still no end in sight for the entrepreneurs. And that causes frustrations.
Years of uncertainty
Fred Ruyken, one of the entrepreneurs at the Food Center, indicates that they have been in the dark for about 15 years about what project developer Marktkwartier will or will not do. Frans van der Meij, also an entrepreneur at the Food Center, agrees: “Everything is a bit of a fog. So it’s all blurry. Uncertainty, they benefit from that. I’m sure. I’m not a conspiracy theorist, but I have experienced that in recent years.”
Fred and Frans are not the only entrepreneurs who address the ongoing uncertainty. AT5 spoke to about eight entrepreneurs about the state of affairs. They say that they have nowhere to go and do not feel supported. Several entrepreneurs have already left in recent years. Some voluntarily, because construction took too long, and others out of necessity due to bankruptcies.
Departure considered
The existing entrepreneurs have the feeling that the developer is just letting this happen. And according to Ruyken, that is exactly the intention: “Yes, you can leave. They would like that, but well, that is not the intention. The intention is that we stay on the market.” Some entrepreneurs have also thought about leaving the site. Ruyken is one of them: “I have many colleagues who thought: it’s enough after 15 years of meetings.”