The former town hall of Gasselternijveen goes up for sale for the second time. With this, the municipality of Aa en Hunze is taking an important step towards the construction of apartments for seniors in the monumental building.
The plans for the conversion to care apartments were devised by village cooperative De Brug. According to the cooperative, these are desperately needed to give the elderly the opportunity to continue living in their own village. The houses that become available will then become available again for starters or other home seekers.
The municipality sold the vacant town hall of the former municipality of Gasselte years ago, but because of the plans from the village, the building was bought again a few years ago. For example, Aa en Hunze wanted to give the residents a chance to further develop the care apartments.
De Brug has now found an investor who is willing to get started with homes for the elderly in and around the national monument. Aa en Hunze may not just sell the town hall to that developer. The municipality is obliged by law to give others the opportunity to buy the town hall.
De Brug is not concerned that the property will now be bought by someone else. “We are actually very enthusiastic that things are moving forward. And so is the developer,” says Jan Willem Koops of the village cooperative. De Brug sent an angry letter to the city council in June, because, according to him, the municipality was letting the village wait far too long.
Koops: “After a long period of silence, it is an excellent step that the municipality is now going to sell the town hall. There is ample need for homes in the village and with these plans we will hopefully get more throughput of houses.”