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LOCAL Monday 23 SepteMber 2024
Restoration of local monument, Cas Veneranda, begins today

ORANJESTAD – During the chi’s wife, Maria Veneran-
celebration of Open Day of da, was charmed by,
Monuments in Aruba, Stich- and so he came to Aruba
ting Monumentenfonds back to build this building,
Aruba (SMFA) and ministers which now we know as Cas
of the local government Veneranda. At the time,
proudly anounced the be- this was one of the biggest
ginning of the restoration of houses built in Aruba.
Cas Veneranda, located in
Wilhelminastraat 7. Besides being a residential
building, it was here that
After a lot of preparations, the first Super Ice cream
since last week there is a lot show was located, as well
of activity at Cas Veneran- as the first location for
da. The first step was to ob- known craft store, Masyfral.
tain funds from the Ministry
of Economic Affairs, in or- Oncha’s flowerhop and
der to reach a purchasing the Consulate of Spain
agreement with the origi- were also located in the
nal owner of Cas Veneran- from SMFA, they guided tures and stories from an- building. At the end of the
da. After the minister of the building team, consist- tiquity at the monumental 1970s, the building was
Economic Affairs, Mr. Geof- ing of Pro-tec for aircondi- house. converted into Papiamen-
frey Wever received ap- tioning, Rotech/Hecom for to Restaurant. During the
proval from the Parliament electricity, Smart Systems The third step was the ten- two last years there, the res-
of Aruba, the second step for security, and Dynaf for der and execution of the taurant also operated as a
was the preparations to solar power. These con- first phase of the project: night club, Club Nouveau,
sign the purchasing agree- tractors were involved in demolition. During the last after the restaurant closed
ment with the family of the the process of design from years, a lot was added to at night. When Papiamen-
original owner, a sign con- the very beginning. the building that was not to Restaurant left the build-
tracts for rental. Depart- originally there. There was ing at the end of 1990, the
ment of Economic Affairs, In the same period, the also a fire in 2014, which building was vacated.
Commerce and Industry minister of Culture, Mrs. caused a lot of damage. The last step will take place
DEACI will be the main ten- Xiomara Maduro together Contractor General Prop- at the end of 2025 or be- In 2023, SMFA reached a
ant, and there will also be with Monumentenbureau erty Services did a great ginning of 2026, when the purchasing agreement with
a hospitality establishment started with the legal pro- job removing anything tenants will move into the Machi Arends’ heir, and in
on the area on the side of tection for the monument, ‘modern’ from the monu- monument. Then, SMFA March of 2024 the official
Schoolstraat. to ensure that the history ment. During the sloop will remain involved in the handover for the building
of the monument will be phase, a lot more history of management of the build- was completed, so that res-
Regarding the design of the preserved forever and it the monument was discov- ing toration could begin. This
project, Hoevertsz ArchiDe- will stay alive. SMFA started ered. It is impressive to see project is co-financed by
sign NV was selected as with the project “Tales of how smart and creative Cas Veneranda the General Pension Funds
an architect, and togeth- Cas Veneranda,” where the architect, Dada Picus, The very impacting build- of Aruba (APFA) together
er with the project leader one and all can share pic- was back then. Remember ing in Wilhelminastraat was with the Restoration Fund
that back when the build- built in 1936 by Federico of the Netherlands (NRF),
ing was constructed, there Maximiliaan (Machi) Ar- and the ministry of Eco-
weren’t any power tools or ends, who was the consul nomic Affairs, Communica-
other modern tools to help of Spain. tion and Sustainable Devel-
the builders. opment. After the restora-
The architect was known tion, the monument will be-
When the demolition was master builder Dada Picus, come the offices of DEACI
completed, the construc- who went all the way to and also have a space for
tion team could complete Colombia to find inspiration hospitality.q
the drawings, plans and from a building that Ma-
tenders for the second
phase: restoration, which
just began. This month an
agreement was reached
with contractor Jash De-
velopment NV, which in
the past has already re-
stored another monument
for SMFA: Nicolaas Store
in San Nicolas. Now, Jash
Development NV together
with other members of the
construction team will re-
store Cas Veneranda. The
restoration work will begin
today, after the construc-
tion site was prepared, and
it is expected to be com-
pleted by the end of no-
vember 2025.