Think you know the Dutch capital? Your perception is about to change as it expands north and south. Felicity Cousins reports
Step out of Amsterdam Central station into the sunshine with trams full of commuters whirring by, and bicycle parks gleaming with their hoard, and it seems there is only one way to go. Walk towards the Park Plaza Victoria hotel and beyond and you’ll soon be in the centre of the city in Dam Square, with its street performers and musicians drawing crowds and tourists cramming great balls of Gouda cheese into their bags.
From the square, the canals spread outwards in a ripple effect with small bridges linking the quirky cafés and antique shops on the narrow side streets. The waterways have been nominated for UNESCO World Heritage status, and the city will find out in December this year if it has been successful.
This familiar picture of Amsterdam means most of us will not venture beyond the pretty façades and neighbourhoods of the centre, but this is set to change. Next time, instead of exiting the station at the front, head out through the back to Waterplein West on the banks of the River IJ, where three ferries leave every five to 15 minutes, 24 hours a day, to the fast-developing Amsterdam Noord.
Previously the industrial district used for shipping, most people had little reason to cross the IJ unless they lived or worked on the north side of the city. Today it is a different story. The ferries go to various parts of the neighbourhood and I take one to the NDSM wharf. Located around the former shipyards are offices for MTV and Red Bull, as well as a huge hangar that houses 250 artists in self-built studios – the digital industries are also blossoming here.The striking Kraanspoor office stands out, and music festivals and theatre productions are held in the dramatic surroundings – the open space offering a blank canvas.
René van Schie, hotel development intermediary for the City of Amsterdam economic development department, says: “For so long no one was interested in that area of the city but now the creative industries are going in, it is suddenly coming up and there are a lot of opportunities. The development is unstoppable. I like to compare it with Kowloon in Hong Kong – it’s also the sunny side of Amsterdam.”
The quirky Northern Lights Café (noorderlichtcafe.nl) is tucked under a transparent dome with an arty, unruly garden spilling down to the waterfront. The furniture ranges from battered old cushions to wicker chairs and stools. I select a soft old sofa overlooking the water and notice the Shell Tower marking its place further down the riverbank.
Some 11 hectares of Amsterdam Noord used to belong to Shell but the oil company sold the land and moved its offices from the iconic tower to a low-lying, conservative building a few hundred metres away. The rest of the area has been earmarked for high-end residential properties, restaurants, bars and a film museum.
Apart from the ferries linking Amsterdam Noord to the centre, there are plans to connect it to the south of the city with a metro line. This will be useful because Amsterdam Zuidas (south) is home to the World Trade Centre (WTC) and the financial district. The North-South line was supposed to be finished by 2013 but it has been delayed until at least 2017 (even the website, northsouthline.com, is still “under construction”). In the meantime the two areas are still easy to get to by bus, tram and road.
Amsterdam Zuidas used mainly to consist of sports grounds and stadiums but the land was sold in 1985 and the WTC built. After that, banks came to the area and the market opened up. The City of Amsterdam plans to develop the whole district in three stages into a multifunctional neighbourhood to be complete by 2040.
Van Schie explains: “At the moment there are a lot of financial headquarters – lots of people go there to do business but there is not much [else] to do, so the idea is to create a new neighbourhood with restaurants, houses, bars and places to meet. It’s also near the convention centre.”
The developments will be one third business (about 1.2 sq km of office space), one third residential (about 9,000 apartments) and one third commercial, with shops – there will also be a theatre. Currently the main businesses are law and financial (the striking 24-storey Ernst and Young HQ was designed by Foster and Partners) but it is also home to Dutch chemical company Akzo Nobel.
Amsterdam Zuidas is in a good location, six minutes by metro from Amsterdam Schiphol airport and about 15 minutes into the centre of town. Amsterdam Zuid station will eventually be connected to the high-speed line that currently operates from Amsterdam Schiphol to Belgium and France with connections to the Eurostar. (See panel, below right.)
Van Schie says: “We need to develop other areas and have new points of interest, which is why the new financial centre in the Zuid is really important.” For detailed plans check out the World Trade Centre Project Zuidas office, which has a scale model of the whole area (visit zuidas.nl).
Services are also being expanded to achieve the city’s wider vision. Van Schie says the aim is to introduce 9,000 more hotel rooms by 2015. He has also published a guide aimed at enticing new hotel brands and entrepreneurs into the city. Last year there were 369 hotels in Amsterdam totalling 20,932 rooms and, of those, about 9,000 were in four- and five-star properties.
Van Schie says: “We analysed the hotel market and found Amsterdam had an occupancy rate of about 81 per cent, so if a conference organiser needed to arrange a meeting they would be calling the hotels to book, say, 60 rooms but having trouble getting them. We wanted to bring occupancy down to about 75 per cent, which worked out as about 9,000 more rooms.”
There is already a good range of hotels on offer. The top end of the market includes the Pulitzer, Sofitel Grand, Swissotel, Radisson Blu, Crowne Plaza, Hilton, Marriott and Hotel de L’Europe (currently being refurbished), Japanese brand Okura, and Dutch chain Amrath. “Budget luxury” brand Citizen M opened its second property in Amsterdam Zuidas last year (visit businesstraveller.com/tried-and-tested for a review), the other being located at Schiphol airport.
Upcoming hotels include the 130-room Conservatorium in the centre, which is due to open at the end of the year, City Inn by Central station in 2011, and the Marcel Wanders-designed Andaz, opening on the same street (Prinsengracht) as the Pulitzer hotel in 2012.
Van Schie says: “We aim to get a lot of lower budget properties as well as top hotels – of course, with [all the extra] rooms there will be quite a few four- and five-star properties. We are trying to get a W here as we want a lifestyle hotel. We are also approaching extended-stay brands such as Staybridge.”
As there are so many building restrictions in the centre, the aim is to encourage hotels to open further out and consequently help to develop new neighbourhoods. Other areas to look out for include Arena Poort, south-east of the city near the football stadium, which has been flagged as the new entertainment and concert district. And back on the water, Westerdok is an island being built from reclaimed land that is set for completion in 2013, with the Palace of Justice, a hotel and 194 residences.
These are big ideas, but Van Schie is keen to point out that the small successes also matter, such as Fashion hotel on the edge of the city and the new Citizen M. He concludes: “We are happy with all the big developments going on but we are also happy with these little pearls. Our policy is to encourage people to come up with new ideas and new brands.”
Before heading home I catch the ferry back to Amsterdam Noord, to the restaurant Wilhelmina Dok (wilhelmina-dok.nl). An old ship-repairing site, the bright orange three-storey building has been offering delicious, locally produced fare to Amsterdam’s locals for years. The interior has a maritime feel, and as I watch the ships pass and the lights of the city twinkle across the water, I know this is a new side to the Amsterdam I’ve visited before. And it promises an exciting future.
GETTING THERE
BY RAIL Take the Eurostar from London King’s Cross St Pancras to Brussels and then the Thalys service to Amsterdam. First class passengers get free food and wifi and the journey takes about four hours. Internet rates for a midweek return standard class journey in July started from £175 (£244 for first class). Visit raileurope.co.uk
BY AIR British Airways, Easyjet, KLM and Cityjet operate frequent daily services from London to Amsterdam Schiphol. Visit ba.com, easyjet.com, klm.com, cityjet.com
Thumbnail picture credit: mywtcamsterdam.com
