TALLINN - Real estate developer E.L.L. Kinnisvara, owned by construction group Merko Grupp, plans to invest 2.4 billion kroons (153.4 million euros) this year in the Baltic states. Latvia is expected to receive 580 million kroons of this total.
"We're set to complete about 74,000 square meters of shopping center space and 58,000 square meters of office premises in the Baltic states in the coming years," said E.L.L. Kinnisvara board chairman Aldo Dapon. Tallinn, Riga and Vilnius are actively competing for the title of Baltic economic hub and therefore the demand for the firm's portfolio stays high, he added.
E.L.L. Kinnisvara is currently developing the two seven-story Duntes office blocks just outside of Riga's center, with an combined area of 19,600 square meters which, according to the firm, will be leased to Statoil, Ericsson and several large Latvian companies.
The Duntes complex offers 12,800 square meters of leasing space, in which the developer itself intends to open an office. The office center will also have a restaurant with seating for 110. The manager of E.L.L. Kinnisvara's Latvian operations, Edgars Miluns, says that this area can be considered as the Manhattan of Riga where, in the next three to five years, many banks, state-owned enterprises and international organizations will be opening their offices.
The company said it will complete the Spice furniture outlet in Riga this October, which will have 22,000 square meters for lease, and in the spring of 2008 the 52,000 square meter Panorama shopping mall in Vilnius is scheduled for completion.
