At the end of last year, the municipality of Haarlem received an application for a permit to convert the police station at Marnixplein 11 into a daycare center. At the beginning of this month, local residents of Marnixplein received an invitation for a walk -in evening about the future of the building. According to the flyer, the building must become a ‘atmospheric place’, ‘where we encourage children to discover themselves and the world around them’.
Sendant of the Flyer: Kindergarden. Kindergarden has more than 70 locations for childcare in the Netherlands and is part of Bright Horizons, one of the largest childcare organizations in the world.
Sold to real estate investor
The former police station was purchased for around 1.7 million euros last year by Invasto, a real estate investor from Breukelen. It is striking that In 2020 Invasto also acquired a former police station, in Weesp. That building was converted into a daycare center and rented to Kindergarden. That trick is now being repeated in Haarlem-Noord. At the end of 2025, Kindergarden wants to open the doors of the new location, its third in Haarlem.
Bitter pill
That Marnixplein 11 will be a daycare center is a bitter pill for several general practitioners in Haarlem-Noord. They are looking for a suitable home in their part of the city, often for years. Appropriate spaces in Haarlem-Noord are scarce and do not often come on the market. Several practices made their interest in the old police station known, but are therefore not up to the Kongsi between the investor and the childcare organization.
“I think they bought it on behalf of another party,” said GP Frank Lengers last fall about the new owner of Marnixplein 11. Lenger is one of the GPs in Haarlem who is looking for a suitable home. That search continues.