But Kortrijk was already busy with plans for a new mall to give the shopping district a much-needed boost. In 2007, construction started on a project that would change the city's commercial heart completely. Expected to make the area vibrant once again and bring people back to the centre of Kortrijk, it opens on Thursday, 11 March, with the name K in Kortrijk.
At 34,000 square meters, K in Kortrijk is bigger than the floor space of all the existing shops in the commercial centre put together. The planning and construction of this shopping giant took seven years.
Back in the 1960s and '70s, Kortrijk was the most popular shopping city in western Flanders. In the 1980s, people became more mobile and were attracted by other shopping paradises, such as Lille and Brussels. By the year 2000, Kortrijk suffered from as much as one in three empty commercial spaces in its shopping district.
Something had to be done, and that's why Stadsontwikkelingsbedrijf Kortrijk, or City Development Kortrijk (SOK) was founded. With the aid of a master plan, Kortrijk bought a few empty houses in the centre and started renovating the neighbourhood. Through a project promoting living above shops, SOK hoped to avoid the further deterioration of the shopping streets.
The city also purchased the empty primary school Onze-Lieve-Vrouw van Bijstand in the Wijngaardstraat and had its eye on the secondary OLV Bijstand school across the street. The school was no longer used but owned and inhabited by the nuns of Heilig Hart. In 2003, SOK and the nuns agreed on a plan to launch a study to redefine the purpose of the property. The site got a lot of attention from possible project developers, and SOK started a competition to gather the best ideas.
Out of the four presented options, Kortrijk fell for the most radical. Competitor Foruminvest claimed that Kortrijk was the perfect region for commercial purposes; the city has enough visitors, they argued, just not enough shops to keep them interested.
Foruminvest suggested a complete tabula rasa - to knock down existing structures and start from scratch, building Flanders' largest fully integrated shopping mall in the heart of the city, including trendy apartments and plenty of parking.
To measure the interest of chain stores, the city contacted umbrella organisation Retail Forum Belgium. Chains "were definitely attracted to the mall since they were not yet present in Kortrijk, as the available shopping surfaces were just not big enough," says Trui Tydgat, director of SOK. "It's almost unbelievable, but Kortrijk has, for instance, no H&M or Zara; instead you'll find a lot of small boutiques. A new shopping mall in the city with all the popular chains would make the offer to shoppers complete and attract a new public."
Pretty complex
Before K in Kortrijk was even built, the city had to adapt to it. Roads were redefined and tunnels dug to ensure smoothly organised in and outgoing traffic. One of the entrances of K in Kortrijk is set on Veemarkt, so the square had to undergo a full make-over, as well. The five existing houses on Veemarkt were brought down and replaced by a 10-storey tower with a commercial ground floor and nine floors of apartments. The city sees Sint- Jans Tower as a new icon, with a design referencing a similar construction in Siena and trees on the roof as an eye catcher.
Both the Sint-Jans Tower and K in Kortrijk are designed by Ghent architects Robbrecht & Daem, responsible for many high-profile projects in Flanders, including the Concertgebouw in Bruges and the redesign of the Antwerp Zoo. "One of the main conditions was that the mall had to look good and make a statement for Kortrijk as a design district as well," explains Tydgat.
K in Kortrijk was built with natural stones and wood and has a gigantic glass dome, allowing daylight in. A special design fund should ensure new design investments in the future.
"Convincing the existing shop owners of the advantages of the new mall wasn't too difficult, as they also felt that something had to be done," says Tydgat. "But when the works took a lot longer than planned, they got less enthusiastic." For more than three years the centre of Kortrijk was an unfinished mess, with dug up roads and mud everywhere, a disaster for the shop owners and inhabitants.
The coldest winter Flanders has seen in 25 years also caused a few unseen delays, but K in Kortrijk is finally ready to open. Some aspects of the mall and apartments aren't completely ready, but works will continue after opening hours and in weekends.
As a lot of attention will go to K in Kortrijk, the city wants to avoid the other shops being neglected. They insist that the mall won't compete with existing businesses, but will complete the offer.
All shops in Kortrijk are part of the new Business Improvement District. Every year, they will pay a certain amount of tax money to improve the neighbourhood or organise joint events, such as the coming of Sinterklaas.
The official opening event of the mall on Thursday will include the existing shops as well. In the weeks leading to the opening, shopping bags with discount vouchers were distributed, valid in most shops in Kortrijk.
In the meantime, works continue in other areas of Kortrijk, most notably along the River Leie, with the building of seven new bridges. The city plans on incorporating more design in public spaces, starting with designed benches along the river.
Kortrijk had the excellent good luck last year to be the site of the winning restaurant in the phenomenally popular Mijn Restaurant! TV series, which included spectacular views of the town. The Wednesday-night VTM series De Rodenburgs is set in Kortrijk, but you wouldn't know it from looking (Rodenburg is the name of one of the city's upscale quarters).
The series is a family epic, set among three generations of a rich business family and their rivalries with another family, to whom they're linked by marriage and money. It sounds just like Dallas, and Kortrijk is known as the Texas of Flanders (but wasn't that an image they wanted to shake off?) The city of Kortrijk reportedly paid €200,000 to have the thing set there. The series has been extended, but from what you see on the screen, they're not getting much for their money. Alan Hope
Five years ago, Kortrijk was a sleepy, grey city. But now it's hard to ignore. From the redesign of its signature museum to the luxurious setting of VTM series Mijn Restaurant! and De Rodenburgs, Kortrijk seems to have recaptured people's imaginations. To get this attention, the city did not have to invent anything. All it did was seriously brush-up its three main assets: design, history and commercial interests.
DESIGN Kortrijk has a tradition of innovation and design. Did you know that most of the interiors of the pavilions at Expo '58 were designed by furniture manufacturer De Coene from Kortrijk? Every two years, the city features Europe's second-biggest design fair, Interieur. Study option "industrial design" at the Provincial Industrial College in Kortrijk attracts students from all over Belgium. And (in)famous installation architect Arne Quinze chose Kortrijk as his company headquarters.
HISTORY 1302 is a hugely important year in Flemish history, the date of the Battle of the Golden Spurs, which took place near Kortrijk. This victorious Flemish resistance against the French got its own museum in 2006, partially located inside the 13th-century abbey. Now the beautifully designed, interactive Kortrijk 1302 Museum describes seven centuries of Flanders' history, attracting 23,000 visitors a year.
COMMERCIAL Shopping mall giant K in Kortrijk will give the commercial district a boost and should put Kortrijk on the shortlist of best shopping cities in Belgium.
Project Developer: Foruminvest
Contractor: THV Wijngaard
Architect: Robbrecht & Daem
Stats: 34,000m2 · 1100 parking spots · 4 storeys · 85 shops · 40 flats
Fast Facts
• The new mall's original name was "Shopping Sint-Jan", after its location in the city. After the competition, everybody agreed that "K in Kortrijk", referencing as it does the city itself, was a better idea
• For more than 40 years, shopping streets in Kortrijk have been car free. The city even claims to be the first in Belgium to have a pedestrian only commercial district
• Neighbour Tim Vandendriessche followed the construction of K from day one and regularly posted information and pictures on his blog: www.kinkortrijk.blogspot.com
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