Riga, Latvia, 2017-02-07 08:00 CET (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- 2016 for Pillar, a real estate group, was marked by a new stage of development — i. e., the construction of New Hanza City, as well as the continuing sale of the property portfolio. In general, Pillar concluded more than 200 sales transactions for the total of EUR 12.9 million in 2016. In the past year, the real estate property portfolio diminished to 245 properties.
In 2016, 106 properties were sold in apartment blocks: 77 in Riga and 29 outside the city. The company sold 13 apartments located in new and renovated projects. The sales of detached houses and land plots were outstanding as a result of the sales campaign: 38 detached houses and 37 land plots. Moreover, Pillar sold 6 commercial objects of different size in 2016.
The past year was almost all about the development of New Hanza City, a grand-scale project. On 4 July, the first stage of infrastructure construction was launched, while in the second half of the year, the best idea for the reconstruction of the warehouse building of the former Riga railway goods station, located on the territory, was chosen — the building will be renewed according to the project of Reinis Liepiņš, an architect at Sudraba arhitektūra architecture bureau.
It is anticipated to complete the first stage of the infrastructure by summer 2017; the total expenses are planned for EUR 9.28 million. The principal contractor within this project is Pillar Contractor, SIA now consisting of 11 employees. For the works to be performed according to plan and in order to meet deadlines, almost 70 people work on a daily basis on the territory of New Hanza City. Upon completing the construction of utilities, in summer 2017, it is planned to start the construction of ABLV Bank headquarters and an adjoint office building.
Two residential buildings on New Hanza City territory are also currently being designed; these will be premium class and middle class apartment blocks consisting of approximately 100 apartments each. Under this project, another Pillar group company, Pillar Architekten, SIA, has significantly increased its working capacity and currently employs 12 specialists.
When analysing the past year, Ieva Valtere, CEO at Pillar, said, “Taking into consideration a new development stage, our main task for the past year was to put a team of specialists together in order to manage construction and designing processes. During the year, we hired 20 specialists and now we’re able to organise all project development stages on our own. If we discuss trends on the housing market, the key one is the moderate increase trend; we can see it when it comes to both housing demand and the increase of prices. The positive mood on the market is supported by different questionnaires where people consistently consider buying real estate to be the best investment. As there are no news about new government initiatives, which could change the current housing taxation policy and availability of credit resources, our forecast for the supply and demand balance this year is close to the one in 2016.”
Pillar group, established in 2008, is owned by the largest private bank in Latvia ABLV Bank, AS and it includes companies that operate in the field of real estate development, management, and trade. Pillar group includes Pillar Management, SIA, Pillar Holding Company, KS, Pillar Development, SIA and other companies. In total, Pillar supervises about 245 properties worth approximately EUR 38.5 million. So far, the company has invested a total of EUR 21 million in renovation of properties. Since 2013, Pillar is the major sponsor of the Annual Award in Latvian Architecture organized by the Latvian Association of Architects.
Ilmārs Jargans
Head of Public Relations Department
ABLV Bank, AS
Tel.: +371 6777 5296
e-mail: ilmars.jargans@ablv.com