Heylen Warehouses, the real estate arm of the family-owned industrial holding company led by the Kempen-based entrepreneur Wim Heylen, has purchased the former Audi site in the Brussels municipality of Forrest/Vorst. Financial details of the transaction have not been disclosed.
The site covers approximately 55 hectares and has been vacant for a year and a half since the last car rolled off the assembly line in February 2025.
The project will be named “Ring Park 21” and is set to become a large mixed-use business park hosting both local firms and international players, thereby severing its ties to the automotive industry.
At least 3,000 jobs
It is not yet known which companies will set up operations at the site. Heylen Warehouses, which signed an agreement with the Brussels-Capital Region and the municipality, is in talks with a wide range of stakeholders.
The goal is to turn the site into one of Brussels’ most dynamic economic centers, hosting both domestic and major international companies, while also partially opening the site to the public and revitalizing the Forrest/Vorst South station to serve the neighborhood and the Region.
The mixed-use urban business park, which focuses on industrial and innovative companies, is expected to create at least 3,000 jobs.
Football club Union Saint-Gilloise is planning its new 16,000-seat stadium right nearby, on the so-called Bempt site, literally next to the former Audi factory – the two sites are about 1,7 km apart as the crow flies.
Experience with redevelopment
The fact that Heylen Warehouses is taking over the site isn’t entirely a surprise. In recent months, there had already been confirmed news reports that the Kempen-based company was interested, with or without the possible involvement of AG Real Estate, the real estate arm of AG Insurance.
Heylen Warehouses has previously undertaken a similar project with the former Caterpillar factory in Gosselies, near Charleroi (37,5 hectares, to be converted into an SME zone), so they have experience with this type of redevelopment.
A rollout spanning almost 10 years
According to BRUZZ, Brussels Minister of Labor and Economy Laurent Hublet (Les Engagés) is also currently negotiating with the federal government regarding a competitiveness pact for the site. This is a federal measure that allows regions to provide support to areas affected by large-scale layoffs. Specifically, companies that invest in such a support zone can count on a 25% exemption from withholding tax.
The Audi plant at the site closed its doors on February 28 of last year – the Q8 e-tron, among other models, rolled off the assembly line there. About 3,000 employees lost their jobs, and hundreds of jobs were also lost among suppliers.
More than half have since found new jobs. But for hundreds of former employees, the process is proving to be much more difficult.
Heylen Warehouses estimates it will take nearly 10 years to roll out the entire project. The promised jobs will therefore not be created immediately.
The Heylen Group, headquartered in Herentals, employs approximately 3,200 people across more than 40 companies operating in sectors such as energy, technology, food, events, and kitchens.
