Eindhoven spent €11 million in recent weeks on properties needed for ASML expansion

In recent weeks, the municipality of Eindhoven has spent some 11 million buying up properties ASML needs for its expansion plans in the city, Omroep Brabant reported. That follows the €217 million purchase of a campus next to where the chip machine maker wants to expand. According to the broadcaster, the city only needs to buy four more properties, if it can get the owners to agree.

ASML wants to expand on the west side of Eindhoven, north of Eindhoven Airport. It plans to build an entire new campus, called the Brainport Industries Campus North, with 20,000 new employees. Unlike in Veldhoven, ASML is not buying the land itself, but will lease it from the municipality of Eindhoven. How much ASML will pay the municipality is unknown.

Previously, Eindhoven purchased another part of the Brainport Industries, BIC1, for €217 million. That is located next to the area where ASML is planning to expand. The city called it one of the most important and strategic campuses in the Netherlands and wants to maintain control over the area.

In February, it emerged that the city paid over a million euros for a single home in the area. Since that purchase, the municipality has managed to acquire at least five other plots. In recent weeks, the municipality paid nearly €11 million for properties, according to the broadcaster.

There are still four plots on the municipality’s wish list for the expansion. One plot belongs to a family from the Hague region, others belong to people from Eindhoven and the surrounding area. According to Omroep Brabant, at least one owner is not eager to sell.

Jos Groeneveld from Nuenen told the broadcaster that he will not sell his two plots voluntarily and will let it come to forced expropriation. “Then we will see what the judge rules. But I do not find the money they are offering now sufficient.”