Luxe Amsterdam dept. store project Haussmann may be cancelled

There is much uncertainty surrounding whether or not Amsterdam luxury department store Haussmann will actually go through. Retail News reports that the project is cancelled and all employees were removed from working on it. A spokesperson for the company told NRC that they are currently looking at how to continue. The spokesperson denied that the project was cancelled completely, but confirmed that the staff was temporarily removed from the project. According to him, this is the result of CEO Frans van der Kraan's departure from Haussman last month. "Van der Kraan is the man with vision when it comes to concept development. His departure promoted us to reassess where we currently are and whether the realization of a luxury department store is a realistic option", he said. Haussmann is the initiative of a group of dutch entrepreneurs and investors. In May last year they announced that they will open a luxury department store at the Rokin, where the Fortis building used to stand. The development is in the hands of property manager Ivy Group. The opening of the store was already delayed from September 2016 to February 2017. In December there were reports that Haussmann was having trouble attracting luxury brands.