Swedes pay 128 million for Tallinna Postimaja
08.03.2010, 09:13Estonian state postal company Eesti Post has sold Tallinna Postimaja building in central Tallinn located opposite Hotel Viru for 128 million kroons to Swedish-linked real estate company Promethean, reported ERR:
Promethean owns also other properties in Estonia and bid a thousand kroons more than the 128 million kroon starting auction price of the building that has 11,000 square metres of floor space. The company was the only bidder in the auction.
Promethean is subsidiary of Altenberg-Reval AS and is run by Swedish businessman Claes Magnus Akerborg. The new owner has not said what its imminent plans with the building are. The national heritage agency has agreed that the building could be torn down although the current detailed plan rules out the destruction. The current detailed plan includes the possibiltiy to build a gallery above Narva road connecting the building with Hotel Viru.
Ahti Kallaste, chairman of Eesti Post, said that negotiations between the parties were long.
A bid was also believed to have been considered by Estonian real estate businessman Urmas Sõõrumaa who wanted to tear down the building in order to gain a better access to its Rotermanni district behind Postimaja. Sõõrumaa commented the Postimaja auction so: "If I or some other Estonian had purchased Postimaja, we would have been prohibited to tear it down. Not so with foreigners. You will see, also Linnahall will be torn down one day. This is the way things are and this is why I operate mainly outside Estonia".
Eesti Post that owns about 90 registered immovables all over Estonia plans to sell practically all of them and keep only four.
According to the detailed plan approved in 2005, the current three-storey building could have up to 7 floors. However, building expert studies have shown that the current foundation is too weak to support even one additional floor.
The construction of the current building started in 1977 and was completed in 1980 for the Olympic Yachting Regatta. Its architects were Raine Karp and Mati Raigna. Its first floor was occupied by the centre for long-distance calls that had to be ordered through an operator. The first and second floor were connected by a moving staircase that was the first in Estonia and attracted wide public attention. However, it soon stopped working and in 1988 was replaced by regular stairs. The building had its share of problems since the reinforced concrete pillars and beams had insufficient load bearing capacity. Therefore, it was necessary to add additional pillars to the building and keep it only three stories high.