Municipality to move downtown

2001-09-06
Virgilijus Savickas

VILNIUS - The emblem of the city of Vilnius depicts St. Christopher carrying the young child Jesus on his shoulder through a river. City authorities, having taken the symbol literally, are claiming a breakthrough in their much delayed bid to move their headquarters northward, to the Snipiskes district across the river from the town center.

Having completed the process of buying the land from private owners, the municipality has just announced a tender for the design and construction of a 200 million litas ($50 million) complex of buildings at the intersection of Ukmerges and Lvov streets.

The hunt is now on for a commercial investor with which the municipality will team up.

Raivydas Rukstele, a consultant at the municipality said the municipality had managed to get the land for just 1.5 million litas, rather than the projected 3 million litas. "This project now really looks like getting off the ground,"said Rukstele. "We hope the whole thing will be complete in two to three years."

The investor is expected to have assets of at least 10 million litas and to have at least 100 million litas in credit to contribute to the project. The deadline for applications is Sept. 24. The city's contribution will be 70 million litas, which it expects to gain from the sale of premises in the town center.

Not only will municipal workers benefit, but the complex, part of which will be 27 floors high, will also house shops, a business center and a 1,000-place underground parking lot. It will provide 35,000 square meters' of floor-space, of which the. municipality intends to occupy 14,500 square meters.

An outline plan has already been drawn up by the United Workshop of Architects, otherwise known as JAD, whose previous designs include the hostel for Lithuanian MPs on Gediminas Street and premises for a number of banks.

The complex will join a number of enterprises which have recently moved into the district, including a Holiday Inn and the offices of the Hanner company. Renovation work is meanwhile due to begin at the nearby Lietuva Hotel, the largest in Vilnius.