Business In The Spotlight
VACANT SPACE IN ZUIDAS: WHAT’S THE REAL STORY? Zuidas has evolved beyond its beginnings as a 9-to-5 office district. With a wide
Hanssen explains. “In the aftermath of the
diversity of different and new users, from innovative tech firms to residents,
pandemic, employers realise how crucial
the area is developing rapidly. However, a recent article in one of our regional
it is to create a place where employees feel
newspapers contended that Zuidas is experiencing an exodus of large companies
at ease and are as productive as possible.
that are packing up and leaving behind vacant buildings. We caught up with Joep
What we’re seeing now is that companies
van Vliet, head of research at the real estate consultancy CBRE, and Niels Hanssen,
with resources tend to choose the better
CBRE’s associate director, to find out what’s actually going on.
buildings and are prepared to pay for them.” In actuality, both men say, Zuidas is
“Zuidas is developing in line with the domestic
and renovated to be suitable for multiple
more popular than ever. When it was fully
and global economy, so the fact that some
tenants.” Given the current innovative
let, companies did not find the space to
companies are locating here and others are
direction the economy is taking, in which
grow. Hanssen suggests there were even
leaving constitutes natural turnover”, Van Vliet
the field is wide open for small enterprises
companies that would have liked to locate
begins. Not only that, according to Hanssen,
to grow, there’s also a larger crop of small
to Zuidas, but went abroad due to the lack
this state of affairs is in fact a good thing.
businesses, and they need that space.
of space. Now all kinds of possibilities are
“There’s a mutually reinforcing effect, and in
They want offices that are cutting edge
opening up. “It just goes to show: newly
a way it’s mainly symbolic. In the early stages
and future-ready, prioritizing the building’s
available space can actually be quite
of development, the majority of offices at
sustainability.
healthy for an area like this.”
driven companies and law firms, in buildings
Rising rents
International calibre
that were closed off to its surroundings. After
A consequence of all these renovation
The coronavirus crisis has shifted the focus
all this time these tenants now take their next
projects with high quality standards is
to the best buildings. And they are in high
step; either at Zuidas or elsewhere. They’re
that rents are rising after a relative calm
demand. “Walking around here, we may not
leaving behind buildings that are being
period during the pandemic. “Companies
realize it, but this is the premier location for
upgraded and made sustainable,
are always looking for the best buildings”,
international businesses to land in north-
Zuidas were dominated by large, financially
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