Viru Hotel Compensation Request Granted by Court
Tallinn District Court has ruled in favor of the Sokos Hotel Viru in a case involving a plan to build an addition to the downtown hotel - permission for which the city initially approved, then revoked.
Overturning a previous decision by the administrative courts, the district court ruled that the hotel is entitled to financial compensation from the city for revoking planning permission, but will decide on the exact sum later, Postimees reported on Monday.
Tallinn held a procurement for the development of the Viru square in 1996. It was won by a plan that included a highrise annex to the hotel which would have included 140 guest rooms. The city approved the plan three years later.
In 2008, four years after the Viru Center, a shopping complex next to the hotel, was completed in its current form, Tallinn City Council revoked the detailed plan agreed upon 10 years before on the grounds that it would disrupt the view to the Old Town, a UNESCO World Heritage site.
Hotel Viru sued in 2010 after receiving a damages estimate from the real estate firm Colliers International. The final claim then, 11 million euros, did not include loss of potential profits, but included the 450,000 euros that had already been spent on planning.