Cobraspen Groep has been working on the redevelopment of the SugarCity site since 2000. The entire area is being tackled: the Sugar Silos, where sugar used to be stored, have been converted into ultramodern show and office spaces, the 21,000 m² Factory will be used as an event location and in 2020, outlet-shopping centre ‘Amsterdam The Style Outlets’ also opened here. In addition to retail, there will be (amongst other things) various catering establishments, a marina, a large supermarket and a 400-room hotel with space for events and congresses. In short, the perfect place to combine business with pleasure!

Industrial heritage under (re)development
On the former site of the CSM Sugar Factory in Halfweg, an area of 110,000 m² is being repurposed. Much of this will come from the transformation of existing buildings, but new construction is also taking place. An important starting point for the redevelopment of the area is the preservation and restoration of the valuable existing industrial buildings. The urban plan proposes a rich mix of functions, creating a lively area that is freely accessible to all.

In 1863, the first sugar factory opened in Halfweg. After a few years, this sugar factory closed, followed not much later by N.V. Suikerfabriek Holland. In 1919, it became part of the Central Sugar Company. This gave rise to the name CSM-Suikerfabriek.

Sweet history
he CSM Sugar Factory was established in 1919 to produce sugar from sugar beet. From the mid-1970s, the company grew into a large concern. Sugar production gradually got a smaller and smaller share in the company. As a result, and due to economies of scale of sugar factories, the number of sugar factories in the Netherlands shrinks. The factory in Halfweg also came to an end; in 1992 the CSM sugar factory closed its doors.

With the closure, about.110,000 m² of land area was released for redevelopment. This is about a third of the area of the entire municipality. In the year 2000, Cobraspen Group bought the site by public tender.

SugarCity is historically very valuable as an area and is regarded as a unique piece of industrial heritage. Two special objects are the Town Hall (‘Swanenburg’ Castle) (1645) – the first building in Halfweg – and the factory complex of the Suikerunie.

Remarkably, the stately Town Hall (‘Swanenburg’ Castle), designed by Pieter Post, was part of the production process until 1950, housing the evaporative boilers. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the building served as the castle of the Rhineland Water Board. In 2007, SugarCity was added to the HollandRoute of the European Route of Industrial Heritage.