This Amsterdam Borough Is Attracting Hipsters, Families and Travelers

(Source: Internet)

Despite proclaiming a love of all things classically cool, hipsters certainly do love when an area is rejuvenated by the commerce of new construction.

Bloomberg’s Dalia Fahmy reports on the budding installations popping up around Amsterdam Noord, a burgeoning borough in Amsterdam.

As the report states, Noord is an area marked by a once bustling harbor community just to the north of the Ij River.

As a healthy migration continues to more urban areas, many have looked anew at Noord to settle down or simply to visit.

The wonderfully low rental prices also draw many to a place that was once, as BNP Paribas Real Estate adviser Vincet Vollenbronck put it, rather dilapidated.

Vollenbronck tells Bloomberg: “Growing up there was fun, but most of the former shipyards were vacant or occupied by squatters. Now the area’s booming.”

Booming may be an understatement as business in the area is reportedly up 14 percent from two years ago and several companies, including Viacom MTV and Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc., have now vested interests in the borough.

The following video from Skyscanner highlights the harbor area that is slowly maturing into a humming example of urbanization.

As Fahmy writes, the area is attractive to a particular subset of the demographic looking for new areas to enjoy: “Working-class houses in the ‘tuinwijken’ — quaint villages built in the 1920s and 1930s for Noord’s wharf workers -— attract hipsters and their families these days.”

The comparison is made to a similar set of events that played out in New York City’s Williamsburg, which gentrified into an area of renewed interest, diners and coffee shops.

Michiel de Bruine, head of residential asset management at Bouwinvest – a company invested in the area – offers the following to Bloomberg: “I call it the Williamsburg of Amsterdam. Ten years ago, you wouldn’t walk in this area after sunset.”

The most obvious hurdle for Noord is its infrastructure, which is slowed by river access being relegated to ferry service for the moment.

The report states that rail solutions are in the works but may not be in place for a couple of years.

Still, it doesn’t seem like the ferry congestion is causing crowds to ignore an exciting area that is undergoing a remarkable evolution at the moment.