Real estate investor Nrep withdraws from Lapinlahti project, but Lapinlahti 360 project by the Lapinlahti community continues as planned
Lapinlahti community press release 29.2.2024, immediate release
Helsingin Sanomat reported today on February 29, 2024, that real estate investor NREP is withdrawing from the Lapinlahti project: https://www.hs.fi/kaupunki/art-2000010258613.html. This has been a highly anticipated decision since NREP received a development reservation from the city for the Koksikatu triangle block in Kalasatama without commitments to Lapinlahti and when general construction and financing costs continued to rise simultaneously.
According to Helsingin Sanomat, “several current users of Lapinlahti and their supporters have hoped for renovations to be carried out gradually. However, this would further increase the cost of renovation.”
Architects specializing in the conservation of old buildings and Afry, which conducted condition surveys, recommend the phased renovation of Lapinlahti’s buildings. This does not automatically significantly increase the cost of the renovation but, on the contrary, can help keep costs under control by avoiding expensive additional work resulting from inevitable surprises and potential errors in a lump-sum contract.
In addition, phased renovation would allow rental income from the buildings even during the renovation phase and maintain and strengthen the operational and work capacity of Lapinlahti’s current target groups. This would have significant positive impacts on well-being, employment, and the economy.
The Lapinlahti community remains extremely committed to the Lapinlahti project. Lapinlahti Foundation will submit an updated version of its Lapinlahti 360 plan to the City of Helsinki during March. This is supported by a citizens’ initiative campaign, which has already gathered over 4500 signatures. With this number of signatures, Lapinlahti Community’s citizens’ initiative is already, in just under four weeks of collecting names, among the fifteen most signed citizens’ initiatives in Finland of all time. The citizens’ initiative demands that the Helsinki City Council make a principle decision whereby the City of Helsinki continues to own the former Lapinlahti hospital area, park, and buildings and ensures the future of Lapinlahti as a center for arts, culture, and mental well-being.
The Lapinlahti community invites all interested parties, including NREP, which has now abandoned its own project, to participate in its Lapinlahti 360 project. In this publicly majority-owned and democratically and transparently managed project, other commercial real estate investors as well as non-profit organizations can participate as minority owners.
The planning of sustainable renovations for the Lapinlahti buildings and the preservation of Lapinlahti for future generations still require a lot of work, but we are already very close to making good, far-reaching, sustainable, and economically viable decisions and solutions. The Lapinlahti community now hopes for wise and responsible decisions from Helsinki’s political decision-makers and the continuation of smooth cooperation with the city and its partners!
On behalf of the entire Lapinlahti community,
Ville Pellinen
CEO, Lapinlahden Lähde Oy (a subsidiary of MIELI Mental Health Finland)
Vice Chairman, Lapinlahti Foundation
Chairman, Lapinlahti Community Steering Group
+358 40 665 6605
https://lapinlahdenlahde.fi/
Sign the initiation: https://www.kuntalaisaloite.fi/fi/aloite/35731
