In 2020, the City of Tallinn launched the detailed planning procedure for the Meeruse Port area, which is next to Bekker Port. Both sites are owned by Logman Invest, a company which belongs to Endel Siff, with the plan being to redevelop these industrial areas into residential and commercial areas. The city's vision is that Bekker and Meeruse, together with the Hundipea and Sitsi areas, will eventually become one of the main centers of Põhja-Tallinn.

Tallinn Deputy Mayor Madle Lippus (SDE) told ERR that the city sees the Bekker and Meeruse area as a unified whole.

"It's a big campus in the sense that it's where the manufacturing is happening now. But in the future, the aim is to transform it into a central area, in which around 50 percent should be residential properties, and the rest either commercial or social. Because the area is so large, it is not yet possible to say how many apartments or how many residents will be there. But since we are talking about large numbers, there are also plans for a kindergarten and a school," Lippus said.

Tallinn Deputy Mayor Madle Lippus (SDE) told ERR that the city sees the Bekker and Meeruse area as a unified whole.

"It's a big campus in the sense that it's where the manufacturing is happening now. But in the future, the aim is to transform it into a central area, in which around 50 percent should be residential properties, and the rest either commercial or social. Because the area is so large, it is not yet possible to say how many apartments or how many residents will be there. But since we are talking about large numbers, there are also plans for a kindergarten and a school," Lippus said.

The detailed plan for the Bekker Port site encompasses almost 34 hectares. Three years ago, Kadarik Tüür Architects completed a vision plan for the site on Tallinn's Kopli peninsula, including a potential new opera house, though this has since been scrapped.

"In the context of this planning, that is no longer an active idea, partly because the site is quite far from the city center and access is difficult," Lippus said. However, there are still plans to build a marina on the site.

According to the plans, the tallest building on the Bekker site will be 14 stories high, while the rest will be between two and seven stories. "There has been some talk of higher buildings, but we have now come to the understanding, in cooperation with the developer, that the area really needs a landmark building of up to 14 stories," Lippus said.

"More features are needed to serve the residents, so that it is not just a marina – there ought to be local shops and services available. And certainly a seaside area – the logic of the Bekker-Meeruse planning is also that you can walk along a promenade by the sea, so that the seafront is accessible to all," Lippus added.

As the area will be densely populated and have a large number of residents, the city is also planning build a kindergarten and a school there at some stage. The developer will give the land to the city for that purpose.

Trams will arrive, but not soon

Tallinn has linked new and large developments to public transport. In the case of the Põhja-Tallinn district, there has been increasing concern over public transport, as the planned developments in Kopli, Hundipe and Sitssi would all lead to tens of thousands of new residents moving to the area.

According to Lippus, larger developments may be allowed on the Kopli peninsula and Paljassaar if public transport connections there are better. The detailed plan for the Bekker Port area mentions that a new tram line that would run more or less parallel to the existing one on Kopli tänav.

"In the long term, the city also sees the possibility of having a tram line there, but initially it will probably mean a high-speed bus connection," Lippus said.

Tallinn is currently preparing to build a tramway from Putukaväila to Puhangu tänav. In the future, the plan is to extend it to the Bekker-Meeruse area as well as to the end of the Kopli peninsula, Lippus said.

While the city has been working on the Meeruse detailed plan for four years, with that process expected to be completed soon, given the size of the Bekker area, the plans for this site could take four to five years to complete the process, Lippus said.

Bekker Port currently operates as a commercial port, where goods are loaded and stored in bulk.

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