At the site of Wisselweg 33, where the former office building of LeasePlan currently stands, 1,000 new apartments are to be built. 85% of the homes will consist of social and mid-rent housing and affordable purchase homes. The rest will be rented out in the private sector. The project is called The Connection and was conceived by developer Article 22, who also owns the site.
The project is designed for different groups of residents: starters, movers, the elderly, and youth. Community and commercial facilities will also be added to the apartment complexes, such as shops, catering, work locations, and spaces to meet and exercise. Parking spaces will also be created, and there will be space for greenery that will be part of the yet-to-be-developed City Water Park. The existing office building must first be demolished.
“The development of The Connection will bring extra foot traffic to the center. Local shopkeepers and hospitality entrepreneurs will benefit from this. Together with other developments in this area, we are building a vibrant central area where more and more people can find a nice place to live,” says Alderman for Urban Development Maaike Veeningen.
The Connection is part of a larger plan for the Station Quarter, the area north of Almere Centrum station. In the future, multiple apartment complexes will be developed at Wisselweg 1-31. The same applies to Willem Dreesweg, next to the office building of the Tax Office. There are also plans for a vacant part of Oreganoweg to build a new supermarket with about 80 apartments above it.
The housing project The Connection is an example of addressing the housing shortage, as proposed in the document Breakthrough in housing programming Almere.
Developer Article 22 has made agreements with housing association De Alliantie regarding the allocation of a large number of social rental and affordable rental homes. This makes it a highly promising project according to the municipality. Additionally, it is one of Almeres key focus projects, meaning that the municipality is prioritizing this project.
Alderman Paul Tang – Housing and Spatial Development: “If we want to solve the housing shortage in Almere, focus is needed. This means we need to carefully choose which projects get the highest priority, after which we work together with partners to find solutions when problems arise. This way, our residents can get a place to live as quickly as possible. The Connection is such a project that deserves and will receive that focus, so we can quickly add 1,000 new homes to our housing stock.”
The plan is now being presented to the council, which will determine whether it will proceed in this form. At the earliest, demolition and subsequent construction will begin next year.
Moving Up in a Familiar Neighborhood
Article 22 looks forward to the development of The Connection: “We are building high-quality homes that are well accessible, in a desirable location. And we are building from the first stone a livable neighborhood where people truly live together. Because a good image and a good feeling give a neighborhood more value.”
De Alliantie is proud to soon have all social rental homes and a large part of the affordable rental homes. “With this project, we as a social builder take our responsibility to allow Almere residents to move up in the neighborhood they already know. This way, more homes become available for young Almere residents,” says Koen Westhoff, director of area and real estate development of Alliantie Almere.
The exact distribution of the homes and other information can be found in the council proposal for The Connection.
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