Hotel Continental in Brussels to become pop-up culture hub

Brussels’ Hotel Continental will become a temporary hub for culture while it awaits new ownership.

The iconic hotel on the corner of Boulevard Jacqmain and Place de Brouckère dates back to 1874, and the City of Brussels has been trying to find a private investor to take a long lease (50-99 years) on the building.

In the meantime, it has played home to city administrative offices. But with the opening of the new Brucity building for such a purpose, the hotel is now vacant once more.

Moving in for the transformation into a pop-up culture hub is Bruxselair, which promotes Brussels culture through music, art, nightlife and fashion.

The organisation will offer various commercial activities in the hotel in the coming months, including temporary catering establishments on the ground floor.

The first floor will host sustainable designers and the upper floors will feature hairdressers, tattoo shops and other creative entrepreneurs.

Brussels By Night Federation, the umbrella organisation for Brussels nightclubs, will also move into the building and a large coworking space will be added.

Alderwoman for housing Lydia Mutyebele Ngoi (PS) said she was “delighted that the Continental will become a hub where creatives can express their art and talent”.

“For the next 18 months, it will be a place for meeting and expression for all, where creatives can rent a physical space at democratic prices.”

The initiative is intended to be temporary as the City of Brussels looks for a long-term commercial project to occupy the almost 4,000m² of the building.

“The iconic and strategic Continental building, the gateway to the pedestrian zone, offers an exceptional location worthy of a unique and original business that will be able to take advantage of these assets to contribute to the identity of our city centre,” said alderman for economic affairs Fabian Maingain (Défi).

“By streamlining procedures, we hope to broaden the scope of possibilities to a wider spectrum of economic actors.”