If it was once a black market with scruffy trades, new plans by the Beverwijk Bazaar will completely transcend that old image: in a few years’ time, ‘Bazaar Stad’ should have three to four thousand sustainable houses, catering and sports facilities around the covered market, said Bazaar boss George Zapantoulis today.
The new building should be located on the large parking lots 0 and 1, along the Bazaar. In order to maintain enough parking space for both new residents and visitors, there will be a new, above-ground parking garage for five thousand cars, but a space is still being sought.
There are also plans for schools, city gardens, a theater and a cinema in the new district, but ‘the Bazaar itself remains the center of everything’, says Esther Fleers, director of Heijmans Vastgoed. That company has attached its name to the multi-billion dollar project. The company is also working on other major construction projects, in Rotterdam and Leiden.
“How do we wash this little pig?”
According to Zapantoulis, the municipality is also positive about the plan. “The municipal council is aware of the plans and are positive about it. Now the question is, how do we wash this pig?”
Fleers already partly answered this: in the coming months a feasibility study of the ambitious plan will follow, which must also be built in parts afterwards. Fleers: “This is still a vision. Many follow-up phases will follow. We will look at detailed designs for each sub-area.”