Espoo, Finland, 2017-10-06 12:45 CEST (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- SRV GROUP PLC INVESTOR NEWS 6 OCTOBER 2017 AT 13.45
SRV to sell Wood City office building and considerable part of parking facilities to Supercell – construction work scheduled to begin next spring
The construction of the Wood City quarter in the Jätkäsaari district of Helsinki took a major step forward on 6 October, when SRV and Supercell signed a conditional agreement for the purchase of an office building and parking facility. The final contracts are required before the transaction can be completed, and it is expected that they will be signed in the first quarter of 2018. Construction work can begin earliest in spring 2018. The final sale price will not be published.
“From the outset, Wood City’s basic concept has been to introduce Finland to a new way of thinking about business premises, and to create a unique quarter that combines design, sustainable development and a sense of urban community in a unique location in central Helsinki with good transport connections. The project aroused immense interest already in the design stage, and SRV has been driving it forward for several years with a number of partners. The agreement we’ve now signed with Supercell will give us the final push we’ve been hoping for,” says SRV’s Juha Toimela , Vice President, Operations in Finland.
The Wood City design process was launched in 2010. Its architectural concept, which had already attracted a great deal of attention, was based on Anttinen Oiva Arkkitehdit’s winning entry in an autumn 2012 competition. The wooden quarter will consist of an eight-storey office building, a hotel, two apartment buildings owned by Helsingin Asuntotuotantotoimisto (ATT), and a shared three-storey parking facility. Wood City’s architecture will create a modern and harmonious cityscape, in which the diversity of this hybrid quarter will be clearly visible at street level. As its name suggests, Wood City’s frame is built from solid wood, except for the concrete structures in the parking facility. The wooden frame of the office building is supplied by Stora Enso.
“We wanted a permanent home for Supercell in Helsinki. A place where we can make games for decades to come. In the end, Wood City was the obvious choice for us: it beautifully combines traditional Finnish values with a modern working environment. As a material, wood represents Finnishness, so it’s great to be involved in a project that is creating a wooden business environment that is historically large and innovative in the Finnish context. And it also gives us a unique opportunity to design the perfect premises to suit us and our culture. Our goal is to make these premises and surroundings into the best possible place to create games,” says Supercell’s CEO, Ilkka Paananen .
Intense investor and operator negotiations are still ongoing for Wood City’s planned hotel. The construction of ATT’s apartment buildings began at the turn of 2015–2016, and they are scheduled for completion in 2018. SRV aims to launch construction of the office building and parking facility during spring 2018, after which they will appear in SRV’s order backlog. According to current estimates, Wood City is scheduled for completion in stages during 2020. The total value of the Wood City quarter is about EUR 100 million.
Further information:
Juha Toimela, VP, Operations in Finland, tel. +358 40 594 5473, juha.toimela@srv.fi Päivi Kauhanen, SVP, Communications, tel. +358 50 598 9560, paivi.kauhanen@srv.fi
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