Trigon Capital, an Estonian investment bank, is planning real estate activity and looking for a new leader in its expanding division. "We have very aggressive plans concerning real estate," director Kristel Kivinurm-Priisalm said.
Although Old Town apartments can cost above 35,000 kroons (2,250 euros) per square meter, Trigon finds that the investments pay significantly in the long run. Baltic Properties, a Trigon-controlled firm, is reportedly planning to buy real estate worth 100 million kroons in the Old Town.
Linstow, the Norwegian-owned shopping center developer and real estate company, generated 5.3 million lats (7.9 million euros) in consolidated sales during the first six months of 2004, up 19 percent year-on-year, and posted earnings of 2.1 million lats, up by 31 percent year-on-year. Financial director Elina Liepina said that the company made investments of 3.5 million lats in the first six months and predicted annual results to be on target with a planned profit of 4.4 million lats and sales at 11.3 million lats. She added that in the near future the company plans to resume trading on the Riga bourse with shares in Universalveikals Centrs.
In the second quarter of this year Estonian notaries certified 20 percent more sale and purchase contracts than 2003, the statistical office has reported. So far notaries have certified 13,426 deals - 11,449 of which involved real estate. The contractual value of the property was 7.7 billion kroons (492 million euros), with real estate deals accounting for 90 percent. Fifty percent of the notarization was made for the sale or purchase of housing, while 24 percent was made for unimproved and 20 percent for improved construction property.
Tallinn's city government confirmed on Aug. 18 a blueprint for the location of several highrise projects, deciding not to limit building heights to that of Oleviste Church's any longer. Deputy Mayor Kaia Jappinen said that because it was not clear whether the present or former height of Oleviste's spire should be taken as a basis, a height limit was left out of the blueprints. Mayor Edgar Savisaar agreed, saying, "If we dared to erect Europe's highest buildings in the Middle Ages, then where has that courage gone now?" However, both Jappinen and Savisaar conceded that the medieval Old Town's skyline must remain the dominating silhouette when viewing the city by sea.
