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Amsterdam Grand Hotel Krasnapolsky cancels expansion plans

Amsterdam Tourist Information • Posted: November 9, 2009

DutchAmsterdam.nl — NH Hotels has cancelled plans to expand Grand Hotel Krasnapolsky.

“Due to the crisis our cashflow does not allow for an investment in new developments,” explains Arco Buijs, whose responsibilities at the Spanish hotel chain include hotels in the Benelux.

Grand Hotel Krasnapolsky, overlooking Amsterdam’s Dam Square
© Copyright DutchAmsterdam.nl. Want to use this photo?

However the hotel, overlooking Dam square in the very center of Amsterdam, will start renovation work at the end of next year.

NH has long desired to expand its Dutch flagship hotel, Amsterdam daily Het Parool writes.

Not long ago the ‘Kras’ reached an agreement with the City of Amsterdam for expansion in the St. Jansstraat — an ally between Warmoestraat and Oudezijds Voorburgwal. A parking garage and a wing of the hotel would make way for about 70 new rooms, bringing Krasnapolsky to a total of 550 rooms. With its current capacity, Krasnapolsky — named after its first owner — already is the biggest five-star hotel in the Netherlands.

“The City has done everything it could to make the new construction possible,” Buijs says, noting that the expansion fitted in perfectly with Amsterdam’s so-called Project 1012 — an effort to greatly spruce up the entire downtown area.

Buijs told Het Parool that the costs for the project turned out to be prohibitive, in large part because the narrow ally would make it impossible to perform the work using the necessary heavy equipment.

The dream remains, however, and the chain does not preclude possible future construction work.

Meanwhile planned renovation work, which had been postponed for years in anticipation of the new construction, will be a huge project as well. All 478 rooms as well as the public spaces must be tackled.

In addition, Krasnapolsky awaits an even bigger project. As is the case with a number of other historic buildings in Amsterdam, many of the wooden piles — used as part of the hotel’s foundation — are rotten.

The piles at the frontside of the hotel — which dates back to 1865 — must be replaced within five years, and the rest of the foundation within the next twenty years. — © Copyright DutchAmsterdam.nl