Bouwinvest Acquires ‘De Meester’ Development of 176 Apartments in Haarlem’s Historic Sterren College

The Bouwinvest Dutch Residential Fund has acquired the ‘De Meester’ development project of 176 apartments in the historic former craft school and national monument ‘Sterren College’ in the city of Haarlem, 25 km to the west of Amsterdam.

Michiel de Bruine, Director Dutch Residential Investments at Bouwinvest, said: “The De Meester development fits squarely within Bouwinvest’s strategy of targeting residential investments within the expanding greater metropolitan areas of the major Dutch cities, such as Amsterdam, where there is strong demand for rental apartments. The former Sterren College is also a beautiful and centrally located place in Haarlem to live, which were other key factors attracting us to this project.”

The De Meester project will be realised in three steps, beginning with the historic main building dating from 1920, followed by the second constructed in 1955 and finally a completely new development of apartments.

The authentic stairwells, stained glass windows and high-ceiling classrooms of the old college will be preserved and become spacious homes and loft apartments. Some 25 apartments will be reserved for the mid-level rental market segment.

The project will be completed before the fourth quarter of 2021 and add to the portfolio of 194 homes Bouwinvest already has in Haarlem. The institutional investor manager is aiming for a total of 1,000 residential investments in the city by 2020.