The “sale and lease back” operation involving the Finance Tower in the Northern Quarter of Brussels could cost the federal government at least €650 million more than originally expected, potentially raising the total bill to over €2 billion in 30 years, according to reports by L’Echo and De Tijd on Saturday.
In 2001, during the Verhofstadt government, the state sold the tower to the real estate company Breevast for €311 million, and Breevast then invested €325 million to renovate and remove asbestos from the building. In exchange, the state committed to leasing the complex for 30 years. Breevast sold the tower to a South Korean fund for €1.2 billion in 2020.
In 2006, the Court of Auditors warned in a critical report that the federal government would ultimately pay at least €1.136 billion in rent over 30 years. Due to successive indexations stipulated in the contract, the state has already paid over €1 billion in rent between 2005 and 2024, according to data from the Buildings Agency. The contract still has ten more years to run.
Assuming an annual indexation of 2% from 2025, the federal government could end up paying €1.8 billion in rent by the end of 2034.
Over the past two decades, the state has also spent €115 million on taxes and property taxes and €73 million on initial installation works, including heating, ventilation, electricity, plumbing, partitions, and setting up a data centre. Therefore, the total bill will be at least €2 billion by the contract’s expiry in 2034.
The Buildings Agency is resolved to vacate the Finance Tower at the end of this costly lease.
