Unlike the infamous Patarei prison, the current buildings on the almost 50,000-square-meter site of the former Tallinn Prison have no heritage value and are awaiting demolition.

New developments can have a height of up to four floors and should be a 75-25 split for retail and residential purposes.

Risto Vähi, development manager of ELUM Kinnisvara, believes interest will be high and that around a dozen developers may put in offers. The deadline is November 25 and the starting bid is €8.4 million.

"In terms of price and square footage, it's certainly attractive. /.../ A major developer, an experienced one with solid capital backing, will likely make an offer here. This type of developer can approach the project in stages, as it's definitely not feasible to start building and offering everything all at once," he told Friday's "Aktuaalne kaamera."

However, Vähi thinks Tallinn's commercial real estate market is rather saturated.

Developer Kaamos Kinnisvara Group confirmed it is interested in the site. The company said it sees no problem with developing a large amount of commercial real estate.

"Office space, commercial areas, and perhaps even some mixed-use buildings could potentially be developed here. /.../ We are looking at a 40,000-square-meter development area on the edge of the city center, possibly even bordering the downtown area. While the buildings might not be high-rise, there are hardly any development sites of this size left in Tallinn. /.../ It is hard to pinpoint the exact number, but I believe there are quite a few developers who have been waiting for this for a long time and are now preparing their bids," said Taimo Murer, CEO of Kaamos Kinnisvara.

Tallinn's Chief Architect Andro Mänd said that it is necessary to bring more residents to the area, and developers will probably do so.

"We certainly would not want to see a monofunctional district here, like the single-use area we see on the former prison plot across the way," he added.

Mänd said since the older buildings in Veerenni are of high quality, he hopes that the winner of the auction will avoid "cheap aesthetics" in the development.

"We want to avoid creating something dull and monotonous here — where we end up with uniform buildings that all look the same, much like the new development in Veerenni," he said.

Mänd believes there are still large areas in the center of the capital awaiting development, but few are likely to be sold. One is the former freight station area in Telliskivi and another is the former zoo in Lasnamäe. The third is Linnahall, but work will not start in that area until the building's future becomes clear.

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