Sportpaleis takes over Vorst Nationaal; Paleis 12 opens
The Sportpaleis Group is taking over the running of Vorst Nationaal in Brussels from its owners, Music Hall Group, the companies announced. Music Hall will now focus more on production and promotion, CEO Geert Allaert said.
Music Hall was at the centre of a controversy earlier in the year when its non-profit subsidiary MVV received a government subsidy of €850,000 for a single musical. Sportpaleis director Jan Van Esbroeck said he was “delighted” that the company’s expertise in venue management could now be applied to what he called “one of the most pleasant concert halls in Europe”.
The two companies will explore further projects, such as co-operation between Sportpaleis’ newly renovated Congrestheater in Hasselt and Music Hall’s Capitole theatre in Ghent and Stadsschouwburg in Antwerp.
In related news, Brussels City mayor Freddy Thielemans and the region’s minister-president officially opened Paleis 12, a new multi-purpose concert and conference hall on the Heizel plateau with a modular capacity of between 2,500 and 18,000 seats.
The new hall is the first building in the Neo project, a massive – and massively contested – conference and leisure centre at Heizel. It fills a gap in the Brussels concert venue scene between Vorst Nationaal, with its capacity of 8,000, and the Koning Boudewijn stadium, which can house 40,000.
Paleis 12 was previously part of Neo’s exhibition spaces, but has now been transformed, at a cost to the city of €20 million, into a venue specifically for concerts. The opening concert was given by tribute band The Australian Pink Floyd. Acts programmed for later in the year include David Guetta, Mylène Farmer and Elton John.
