1/3 As the remains of the theater are now there (photo: Omroep Land van Cuijk/Peter Linders).
As if the sea of flames recently grabbed it. For example, the Palazzo Theater in the center of Grave is still there. The former meeting place burned down completely ten years ago during King’s Night. “It’s a scandal for Grave,” CDA councilor Ben Peters shouts. How is it possible that no demolition ball has passed through this ruin?
The Palazzo Theater was once the beating heart of club life in Grave. But since 26 April 2015 it is no more than a sad sight in the fortified town. A steel frame has been holding the old facade in place for years.
The green letters Palazzo on the old facade are melancholy to think of the Trefpunt of the past. With wooden plates, the ugly pimple of Grave is protected from the rest of the world.
“I think it’s a scandal,” says John Eggenhuizen of the adjacent café De Coehoorn. “It can get along from me, this box misery. It is a thorn in the eye for the entire Maasstraat. This should be the point of Grave.”
Images of De Brand, ten years ago:
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Ben Peters is a CDA councilor and was once alderman of Grave before it went up in the municipality of Land van Cuijk. “I think it’s a scandal for Grave. That there has been such a ruin for 10 years is not a calling card for the city.” He also believes that action should be taken quickly.
The remains of Palazzo Theater were purchased at the end of 2020 by real estate company Palazzo Grave BV from Rosmalen. The family business wants to demolish the burned -down theater and put four houses, four apartments, catering and a parking garage back.
Why it all takes so long? The owners themselves are also getting tired of it. “I’m going to be brief and concisely about it: bureaucracy,” says owner Kevin van Beuningen. “The fact that the municipality of Grave has merged with other municipalities to Land van Cuijk did not really help.”
According to his father and co-owner Twan van Beuningen, it is also due to the environment that nothing has happened: “We have to do a demolition notification there. They are difficult to do. Salt is laid on every snail. Otherwise it would have been cleaned up for a long time.” The environment service was not available for comment.
The municipality is also in their stomach with the ‘that ruin’. According to a spokesperson, the project has long been stopping because the city center is a protected cityscape. So something should not just be changed about it.
“A development has mainly been looked at in recent years so that the city center with the required history is restored or strengthened,” says a spokesperson for the municipality. “In addition, we weigh that is currently needed in Grave, for example housing for target groups for which there is a shortage.”
In the meantime, the developers have adjusted the plans for the place in question for the third time. These will soon be assessed by an independent committee. The project developers hope that they can take another step forward within a week or three. A prediction about when the demolition or construction can start, they dare not do.
What was it like again?
The Palazzo Theater in Grave was destroyed by fire in the King’s Night of 26 to 27 April 2015. According to then owner Jan-Paul Beukering, he was robbed and topped with gasoline, but he managed to free himself on time. The theater went all the way in flames.
In the course of the investigation, the former owner emerged as a suspect. But in the end he was not prosecuted because the Public Prosecution Service did not have enough evidence.
Nevertheless, insurer Nationale Nederlanden decided not to pay the millions claim to him. After extensive his own investigation, the insurer concluded that there was arson.
