Galaxy Tower: construction stalled for nearly two years due to chaos, delays and lawsuits

Next to the recently beautifully completed Wonderwoods on Utrecht's Jaarbeursplein, the prestigious Galaxy Tower stands out poorly. This 92-meter-high tower should have been completed by the end of 2020. Unfortunately, the client and contractors are more often to be found in court than on the construction site. What is going on and will this mega-project ever be finished?

No one is surprised that construction projects drag on and that construction sometimes stops. However, construction of the Galaxy Tower is getting out of hand. For example, the construction that began in May 2018 has been on hold since February 2023 completely silent and lawyers and judges in particular are very busy with all kinds of disputes between the parties involved about work and payments. Therefore, anyone visiting the Jaarbeursplein even today still finds an unfinished and completely abandoned building.

Prestigious tower

The Galaxy Tower (Amrâth Galaxy Tower) will have - at least this is the intention - both a hotel function and a residential function. The bottom seven floors are intended for the luxury Amrâth Galaxy Hotel, which will house about 250 hotel rooms, two restaurants, a bar, lounge area, three meeting rooms and facilities for fitness and wellness. Above it we find 22 floors where about 317 apartments will be realized. Residents will have access to an underground parking garage and the aforementioned hotel facilities.

On Ballast Nedam's website we read that the tower will have a striking structure and cladding made entirely of ceramics. Green roof gardens, solar panels in both the facade and on the roofs, a heat/cold storage system in the ground and the 317 completely gas-free homes mean that this should be a very sustainable building. Sounds good, doesn't it?

Delays

At the start of construction by Ballast Nedam in May 2018, there doesn't seem to be a hitch. Unfortunately, the project soon runs into one delay after another. For example, work has to be halted for long periods of time, certain activities get in each other's way, and complications arise during execution. In addition to Ballast Nedam, installation company Homij also suffers greatly. All in all, schedules are completely derailed and construction costs are rising sharply.

Back and forth people are pointing at each other. Opinions differ about who is responsible for the delays and failure to meet the schedules. Just like which party does or does not keep to the agreements made, who has to pay which bills and the amount of compensation claimed by contractors.

Payments suspended

Dissatisfied with the work, client De Lelie Vastgoed (DLV, a subsidiary of Amrâth Hotels & Restaurants) decides to suspend payment of bills in 2022. While Ballast Nedam and Homij in turn put work on hold pending payment of outstanding bills and agreement on compensation for additional work and delay costs.

Where, despite all the perils, the highest point of the tower was just reached in December 2021 and the construction finally managed to reach a pretty advanced stage with a lot of trial and error, parties involved are unfortunately not getting any closer to each other. The many legal battles and lawsuits also seem to be quietly heading toward their own climax.

Construction site dismantled

In early 2023, for example, Ballast Nedam decides to exercise its lien. This means that construction will be completely halted and the property will not be handed over to the client until payments are made. The construction site will be completely dismantled and closed. Meanwhile, the client DLV seems inevitably heading for bankruptcy. Due to ever increasing debts and seizures imposed.

In September 2023, DLV therefore asks the court for permission to issue a WHOA Procedure start. A debt restructuring procedure through the "Homologation Private Agreement Act" in a desperate attempt to undo the lien and avoid imminent bankruptcy of DLV.

And on again, or not

In early 2024, the court decides that Ballast Nedam does not have to lift its lien until DLV provides a substantial bank guarantee (about €43 million) for unpaid bills, plus a second bank guarantee for, among other things, delay costs from both Ballast Nedam and Homij (about €26 million).

With that, it is and remains up to the parties involved to come to an agreement, and that is proving to be quite a challenge, as we have seen. Who knows, perhaps everything will now gain momentum and we will finally be able to admire the Galaxy Tower in all its glory before too long. That will most certainly no longer be this year. So let's hope for 2025. Until then, we'll have to make do with the pathetic picture at the top of this article. It compares rather poorly with the adjacent Wonderwoods, which has been completed.