The development of Y-Towers – a new, ambitious large-scale project for Amsterdam – will get underway in January 2020, backed by Hamburg-based real estate investment manager Union Investment.

The new build complex has a gross floor area of approximately 106,000 m2 and comprises a hotel tower and a residential tower on a four-storey plinth containing restaurants, conference facilities and offices.

The waterside location, opposite the city's main railway station, has a direct ferry connection across the Ij river and will also be linked to the subway at a later date.

Union Investment is investing around €460 mln in the development, financed through its open-ended real estate fund UniImmo: Europa. Several thousand private investors in Germany have a stake in the €12.3 bn fund.

Union Investment has signed up Rizzani de Eccher as the general contractor, while local architectural studio Team V Architecture created the design. The new ensemble is scheduled for completion and opening in the first quarter of 2023.

Lofty ambitions
At 110 metres, one of the towers will be the tallest building in Amsterdam Noord and will accommodate a Maritim-branded conference hotel with over 6,000 m2 of conference space and 579 rooms.

Maritim, which is among Germany’s largest hotel chains, has thus booked one of the last available hotel locations in Amsterdam after the municipality imposed a stop on new hotel developments in the city.

In the neighbouring 101-metre-high tower, Union Investment plans to create 174 high-end rental apartments. Letting of the apartments is due to begin in 2021. The lower seven floors of the residential block are reserved for a modern extended stay concept.

'The residents of the tower and surrounding developments will be able to make use of the apartment hotel’s concierge services and the Maritim hotel’s restaurants,' said Volker Noack, a member of the management team at Union Investment Real Estate.

'The bars and restaurants on the 32nd and 33rd floors of what will be the highest building in Amsterdam Noord will also attract additional visitors and tourists,' Noack added. 'In implementing the Y-Towers project, we are delighted to contribute to the development of this location and pleased that our investment will significantly boost its attractiveness.'

Union Investment has been investing in real estate in the Netherlands since 2006. In Amsterdam, it currently holds a portfolio of 10 office and hotel properties worth €1.2 bn in total. They include the ITO and SOM office complex and three hotels operated under the Radisson Blu, Crowne Plaza and Motel One brands.