LEGOLAND Resort in Gosselies/Belgium Could Become Real
© 2016 Chip Litherland Photography Inc.
The Lego park planned by Merlin Entertainments (Merlin) in the Belgian town of Gosselies (a district of Charleroi) could actually become a reality. Today, the British operator group, the investment fund SOGEPA, the Belgian state holding SFPI and property owner SORESIC signed a non-binding letter of intent (“Head of Terms”) to deepen their cooperation on the opening of a LEGOLAND® Resort on the former Caterpillar industrial site targeted for 2027. With this agreement, Merlin, SOGEPA and SFPI confirm their willingness to work together on this project in Wallonia. In addition, the partnership agreement signed by the project stakeholders sets out the main guidelines for future collaboration on the major project. It is estimated that up to 400 million euros will be invested in the project, which is expected to create more than 1,000 jobs.
Merlin Entertainments Group’s COO for LEGOLAND Resorts Group, John Jakobsen comments; “This is another exciting ‘building block’ laid for bringing a potential LEGOLAND Resort to the many LEGO Fans across Wallonia, Benelux and Northern France. We will continue to work closely with the Walloon Government and the City of Charleroi and our stakeholder partners at SOGEPA, SFPI and SORESIC to hopefully make this vision an awesome reality.”
Elio Di Rupo, Minister-President of Wallonia: “I am pleased in more than one way that Wallonia can welcome this investment. First of all, it allows us to turn the page on the disaster that was the closure of Caterpillar. Suffering is now giving way to hope, and new employment prospects are being offered to the workers of our Region. It also demonstrates that Charleroi, like the Walloon Region, is resilient and looking to the future and to recovery. The Government, through its ambitious Recovery Plan, intends to reinforce this dynamic.”
To date, there are three LEGOLAND Resorts in Europe – in Denmark, England, and Germany – and the implementation of the leisure facility in Belgium would present the 14th Lego park worldwide. Usually, between 1.5 and two million visitors per year come to the Legoland parks – the site in Charleroi offers a catchment area of 21 million potential visitors within a two-hour drive. Initially, the park is to cover an area of 70 hectares, with 20 more hectares available for future expansion or development. Whether the theme park resort can actually be realized is to be decided by the end of this year. (eap)
