With the demolition of Hotel Noordzee, the transformation of Wijk aan Zee has really started. The building, popularly known as the ‘Polenpension’, has been used for the past fifteen years to house migrant workers, but will make way for rental apartments. To the delight of many Wijk aan Zee residents.
The demolition on Julianaweg attracts a lot of attention from bystanders. “This looks good,” says a neighbor, pleased with the progress of the demolition. “I saw it built over 40 years ago. Every Friday I would sweep up countless cigarette butts here and they would shoot them straight from the balcony into the street.”
Other neighbor Gertjan Cupido was ‘actually not bothered’ by boarding house residents. “At the most in the last year it was less maintained, so to speak, you noticed that.” He is happy that people will soon be living ‘permanently’. “That’s good for the village.”
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A large part of the Wijk aan Zee buildings, which were used to accommodate migrant workers, have been bought by the Amsterdam entrepreneur Jasper de Rooij from real estate developer Elfi. There will be rental houses that cost about 1,100 euros per month and ‘fit in appearance with Wijk aan Zee’.
The building permit has now been obtained for two of the twenty buildings purchased, says De Rooij. The current demolition building is one of them.
De Rooij expects the first rental apartments to be built on Julianaplein early next year. The apartments on the site of Hotel Noordzee will not be available before 2025. De Rooij also wants to rent houses on Sint Odulfstraat, Voorstraat and Verlengde Voorstraat with Elfi.
Impulse
The Village Council recently said it was very happy with the impulse. “If the football club has to recruit members in Beverwijk, something is wrong. Only five hundred residents can be added with the construction of the new apartments. That is really a leap forward,” said Hans Dellevoet.
In addition, De Rooij has promised to keep part of the homes free for Wijk aan Zee people who are looking for a house within their village. “I don’t know the exact numbers yet, but I expect that between 30 and 40 percent of the rental houses are for that group,” he says.