With No Luck at Home, Tallinn Looks Abroad for Kopli Developer
In the first half of October, Tallinn officials will be heading to Helsinki, Stockholm, St. Petersburg and Moscow in search of a developer for the Kopli Liinid properties, which the city has been trying to sell since 2006.
The 17-hectare area in north Tallinn, notorious and rundown, is up for auction with a minimum bid of 1.5 million euros, reported uudised.err.ee. The city is seeking a developer who would build a residential area with infrastructure, as well as a beach promenade. Officials say the plot could fit up to 527 new apartments and 38 houses.
Domestic developers have not shown interest in the project, saying it is too big, and the city has increasingly lowered its demands.
Local developers told ETV in July that they do not believe foreign developers will be interested either.
The current deadline for bids is November 19.
The area, running parallel to tram tracks on the Kopli peninsula, is mostly known for its abandoned buildings, occasionally inhabited by the homeless.
In winter, many of the squats catch fire, as the down-and-out people of Tallinn try to warm themselves, often with deadly consequences.