TALLINN - A major Estonian developer has defended plans to build an extension to the famous Viru Hotel despite a continued lack of support from Tallinn city authorities, who have reportedly told UNESCO that the hotel project has been annulled. The developer, Uus Viru (New Viru), reiterated last week that the city had no legal grounds for refusing to issue a building permit for the hotel expansion, which would occupy a swathe of Tammsaare Park in downtown Tallinn.
Yrjo Vanhanen, a board member of Uus Viru, told Baltic News Service that, "Laws exist in the city of Tallinn 's in the pre-election period included."
Estonia is currently in the thick of parliamentary elections, which are scheduled to take place on March 4.
Tallinn's cultural heritage department sent a letter to UNESCO, the United Nations body that protects world heritage sites, reiterating that the Viru Hotel expansion had been cancelled in 2005, Estonian media reported on Feb. 7.
Tallinn's Old Town is a World Heritage protected site, and UNESCO officials have expressed alarm at the encroaching glass-and-steel architecture of downtown Tallinn and its ruinous effect on the city's medieval charm.
Tallinn Mayor Juri Ratas, a member of the Center Party, last week confirmed that a letter has been sent to UNESCO.
Initially the Viru Hotel project, which calls for the construction of a 17-story hotel in Tammsaare Park, was approved by Tallinn city officials in 1999. However, a building permit was never issued.
The situation dragged on for years, and finally former Mayor Tonis Palts, a member of the Res Publica party, banned the project altogether since, in his opinion, such a hotel did not belong in the downtown park. As he was quoted as saying in 2005, "Values reflected in the site plan in the mid-90's have changed somewhat, and it would be right and honest to admit that."
Naturally, developers did not give up without a fight, and the court battle continues to this day.
In September the Tallinn Administrative Court ruled that the city should issue the building permit to Uus Viru, but the city appealed. A decision is expected from an appeals court in March.
Uus Viru is a subsidiary of Finland's Pontos OY, whose assets include Viru Hotel, the Viru Center shopping mall and the Radisson SAS hotel. The Pontos group also owns properties in Russia and operates a golf course in Portugal. It was established in 2001 as a sister company to SRV Yhtiot, Finland's leading construction company.
