The Brussels City services are leaving the Hotel Continental at Place De Brouckère, and have put out a call for projects to replace them as tenants for the space, according to reporting from Bruzz.
The Hotel Continental was built in 1874 and has had a colourful assortment of tenants: it was once a café-restaurant, a prestigious exhibition hall, a bowling alley and even a Renault car garage.
The ground floor façade was completely opened up when it served as a garage and then restored to its original state in 1978.
The building today is perhaps best known for the Coca-Cola advertisement on the roof, for which Bruzz says there is no permit and is owned by the City of Brussels.
The Groundskeeping Department that works from it will move at the end of 2022 to Brucity, the new administrative centre of the City.
“The future tenant will have to play a progressive role for the businesses in the area,” reads a call for candidates from the city council.
The Council is looking for someone with a suitable project for the 4,500-square-metre building.
That new tenant will be able to take out a lease for 50 years and can expect to pay at least €303,000 annually.
In its call for projects, the city council clarified that the new user must improve the interaction between the building and the pedestrian zone.
“We are looking for a quality project, both commercially and architecturally,” Olivier Verstraeten, chief of cabinet of Alderman for Land Management Lydia Mutyebele (PS), told Bruzz.
The Brussels Times
