Michaël Despriet, Head of Flanders at March, called Jo Dekeyster, director of Stäubli Benelux, last year because Michaël knew that Stäubli needed to quickly look for a new location. After all, the old location was really no longer optimal: the office was outdated and the warehouse too small. Stäubli was therefore looking for a building where they can keep growing, because more people are added every year. Stäubli Benelux consists of a team of 37 employees and is active in sales, after-sales and training for the four specialized divisions of the Swiss Stäubli Group: electrical connectors, connectors for liquids, robotics and textiles.
Together with Michaël, Stäubli therefore looked for a suitable property for rent in Kortrijk and surroundings. The need for space was defined in 850 m² of office and 500 m² of warehouse. Such a combination of offices and warehouses is rarely easy to find, and certainly not in the Kortrijk market. That's why Michael and other members of the March team also had discussions with owners and developers to look at the options for a customized building (“build to suit”). A build to suit survey requires a combination of good market knowledge and technical expertise, which the March team was able to fully exploit. A number of possible routes quickly arose and a number of meetings could even be scheduled with possible providers.
The most suitable party to work with quickly turned out to be the owner of Pottelberg's commercial site in Kortrijk, led by Philippe Despriet. In the original plan, the new building at Pottelberg consisted of 6 warehouses with office/business space at the front. Through Michael's mediation, Mr. Despriet was able to quickly develop a proposal for Mr. Dekeyster, which took into account the layout and finish required for Stäubli. This proposal meant that several units originally planned would be merged for Stäubli, and the additional requirements requested by Stäubli also received a positive response.
“We are proud of our new office, located in the dynamic Pottelberg commercial center, a place of businesses, shops, restaurants and leisure activities. Our new facilities are twice the size of our previous location. This gives us confidence that we will be able to meet our own needs and those of our customers in the coming years” - Jo Dekeyster, Managing Director Stäubli Benelux
For Stäubli Benelux, when drawing up the lease agreement, it was important to have stability in order to grow. For Immo Pottelberg, it was important to be able to justify the planned investments. Both parties were therefore able to reach an agreement on a long-term lease agreement. This allowed the works to start, so Stäubli Benelux was able to officially inaugurate the new office in September 2022.
