At the end of September, the city council signed a so-called declaration of intent for the development of 242 student and starter homes as well as 2,448 square metres of commercial space, for catering facilities and work spaces, at the Botermijn. It is a consortium of businesses that will take on the redevelopment: MOOI ontwikkelt, Maes Vastgoed and Monitor Capital Investments.
KoKo board member Floor Otten (Bar, Building and Order officer) expects the definitive termination of the lease at the end of this year. After which the board still has one year to find something new in Maastricht. In the meantime, they have been offered two other locations by their present letter: Fort Willemweg 14 and the former customs house at the Botermijn, but these are unsuitable. The location of the building on the Fort Willemweg is not good, says Otten. “Unsafe”, Maurice Evers agrees. Besides, the renovation costs are too high. The former customs house at the Botermijn is “much too small, impractical and also too expensive,” says Evers.
Together with the city authorities, they also looked at their vacant real estate, he continues, but there was nothing among that. They even brought in a purchasing agent, “but that hasn’t yielded any results yet”.
KoKo hasn’t been sitting idle in the meantime. The plans for the Botermijn have been circling for five, six years so the association have been aware that a move was on the cards. KoKo even has a special accommodation working group, says Otten. “But actually, there is no place in Maastricht. We did think about the Muziekgieterij, but the city said that it is not an option. We were also thinking of Radium, close to the Noorderbrug, another great location, with the necessary distance to neighbours.” But again, it is wait and see what the city says about this. “At the moment, we are compiling a list all the large vacant buildings in Maastricht.”
KoKo left its clubhouse on the Hoogbrugstraat because of a growing number of members in 2000. Since then, they have been housed in the former offices of the Botermijn. The association has about six hundred members at the moment. This year, they managed to recruit two hundred new members.