Former brewery to get new life as cooperative co-housing site

Wooncoop recently bought the site on Braemtstraat from Revive. The developer had a permit to build homes there but decided not to go ahead.

“We are leaving the approved project unchanged so we can get started right away,” says Norbert Segers, Brussels manager at Wooncoop. There will be 28 residential units, a communal garden and shared spaces.

Wooncoop is a housing cooperative run by citizens, a formula that falls somewhere between renting and buying. Future residents will not own their homes but will buy shares in the umbrella cooperative, which is developing several other housing projects in Flanders.

In exchange, the residents receive a lifetime right of residence and pay a monthly housing contribution at cost price, a kind of monthly rent.

Construction is likely to begin in June 2026, but eight families have already signed up. The project should be ready for occupancy in June 2028.

The cooperative will organise information sessions in the coming weeks to expand the group of residents and be able to start financing the construction. It is targeting a diverse audience and hopes that people in disadvantaged circumstances will also apply. 

Sint-Joost mayor Emir Kir is happy with the new future for the brewery, which closed in 1981. “This is a wonderful renovation and conversion project that we as a municipality have supported from the outset,” he said.