The Antwerp Tower is a skyscraper in

Antwerp Antwerp (; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of Antwerp Province, and the third-largest city in Belgium by area at , after ...

(

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

). Originally built in 1974 with a height of , the Antwerp Tower was the third-tallest building in Antwerp, behind the Cathedral of our Lady and the

Boerentoren The Boerentoren (; officially the KBC Tower, originally the Torengebouw van Antwerpen) is a historic high-rise building in Antwerp, Belgium. Constructed between 1929 and 1932 and originally high, it remained the tallest building and the secon ...

. After the completion of an extensive renovation in 2019-2021, where two double-height floors were added, the Antwerp Tower is now the second-tallest building in the city overall and the highest residential building, with a height of .

History

Since 1900, the site had been the location of the "Grand Hotel Weber", a

Belle Époque The Belle Époque () or La Belle Époque () was a period of French and European history that began after the end of the Franco-Prussian War in 1871 and continued until the outbreak of World War I in 1914. Occurring during the era of the Fr ...

-style luxury hotel, which was severely damaged by bombings in World War II and stood empty for almost 20 years until it was demolished in the late 1960s. The site was subsequently sold to developers who erected Antwerp Tower, an high office building which opened in 1974. Despite counting prominent companies among its renters, such as

Yellow Pages The yellow pages are Telephone directory, telephone directories of business, businesses, organized by category rather than alphabetically by business name, in which advertising is sold. The directories were originally printed on yellow paper, ...

and

Unilever Unilever PLC () is a British multinational consumer packaged goods company headquartered in London, England. It was founded on 2 September 1929 following the merger of Dutch margarine producer Margarine Unie with British soap maker Lever B ...

, the office building never became popular and renting out offices became increasingly difficult. In 2012 the building was sold to Wilma Project Development, a part of the , who intended to convert the tower to residential units after an extensive renovation. Before the renovation, the Antwerp Tower was often considered to be one of the ugliest buildings in Europe, both due to its out-of-place location and its copper-colored facade.

Renovation

AntwerpTower - 170151 - onroerenderfgoed

Wilma Project Development, a part of the Matexi Group, purchased the building in 2012 for 25 million Euros. The renovation started in 2017 and was finished in 2021. The building was transformed from an office building to a mainly residential tower, with only limited commercial and office space on the lower levels. The building was gut renovated, the dimensions were altered by adding two double height floors on top and widening the floors on all levels. The finished tower has a total of 241 residential units.

Commercial and office spaces

Restaurants

Hawaiian Poké Bowl Hawaiian may refer to: * Native Hawaiians, the current term for the indigenous people of the Hawaiian Islands or their descendants * Hawaii state residents, regardless of ancestry (only used outside of Hawaii) * Hawaiian language, a Polynesian lan ...

and

Pitaya Pitaya () or pitahaya () (common names strawberry pear or dragon fruit) is the fruit of several cactus species indigenous to the region of southern Mexico and along the Pacific coasts of Guatemala, Costa Rica, and El Salvador. Pitaya is cult ...

occupy the commercial spaces on the ground floor, consumer electronics retailer

Media Markt MediaMarkt is a German multinational chain of stores selling consumer electronics with over 1,000 retail locations in ten countries in Europe. With the Saturn (store), Saturn chain of stores it constitutes Media-Saturn Holding, owned by the re ...

occupies the first floor. Real estate investor

Befimmo Befimmo is a Belgian property management company with the status of Specialised real estate investment fund (FIIS/GVBF). It owns, manages and develops office buildings in Belgium and Luxembourg. History On 30 August 1995, "Woluwe Garden D SA" ...

purchased three office floors, which will become a Silversquare coworking location starting in 2022.

References

External links

* * {{Tallest buildings and structures in Belgium Buildings and structures in Antwerp Office buildings completed in 1974 1974 establishments in Belgium Residential buildings completed in 2021