Germany / Belgium: Hospitality technology provider and apartment operator, limehome, will be opening its first location in Kortrijk, situated in Belgium’s Western Flanders region.
Offering fully equipped suites that can be booked online, limehome allowing full flexibility at the rate of a standard hotel room.
The scheduled opening in the city of Kortrijk is a key milestone for limehome’s expansion strategy in the Benelux [a politico-economic union and formal international intergovernmental cooperation of Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg], given that Eindhoven, Den Haag and Amsterdam are already available in the scale-up’s portfolio.
Located within walking distance of Kortrijk’s Begijnhof [part of UNESCO World Heritage], the historic townhouse property’s restoration and refurbishment will start later this summer.
The project will integrate 20 units on four floors, with apartment units between 30 m² and 90 m² in size, with the opening scheduled for the third or fourth quarter of 2024. The apartments will be available for short-term and long-term bookings.
limehome is partnering on the project with Alphastone, a Brussels-based investment and development company with a specific focus on durable and new real estate models. Alphastone recently received a permit from the city of Kortrijk to convert the whole property into a hotel.
Ricky Bichel, head of international expansion at limehome, said: “Kortrijk not only convinced us by its architectural richness, but also as a partner of the Eurometropolis Lille–Kortrijk–Tournai, an important economic, scientific and educational as well as cultural centre, situated at the crossroads of Belgium and France. This is ideal to kickstart our further expansion into Western Europe.
“Along with our previous openings in Eindhoven, Amsterdam and The Hague, we are strengthening our Benelux portfolio in one of the most exciting regions of Western Europe,” he added.
Valéry De Vos, head of development of Alphastone, said: “Alphastone is proud to contribute to the durable reinstatement of this piece of heritage, particularly thanks to the partnership with the operator, limehome, which shares our vision for digitalisation and innovation.”
In November last year, limehome received €45 million in a venture capital funding round, continuing its accelerating expansion.
In recent weeks and months, the Munich scale-up has signed 82 flats in the Balgequartier district of Bremen in Germany, and announced plans to expand into new markets such as Portugal and Italy. In total, limehome has more than 3400 suites under contract at close to 120 locations in Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Portugal and Hungary.
