Nordicum - Real Estate Annual Finland 2015 | Page 44

The Pasila high-rise competition is under preparation. Project Manager Dan Mollgren is in charge of the planning. Pasila – The Second City Centre Pasila is already recognised as the number two traffic hub in the nation: all the trains stop here and trams and buses very much congregate in the area. This means that Pasila is – in essence – “the second city centre” 3.5 kilometres removed from the “real” downtown. Still, as potent as Pasila already is, there are plans to make it much more impressive: the idea here is to turn Central Pasila into a new kind of urban centre for business, service and housing. A next-gen traffic/commercial hub – called Tripla Centre – will be built in the railway yard area freed up in the Central Pasila area. Building rights of approximately 183,000 square metres will be zoned in the area, and the total value of the project is approximately EUR 1 billion. Niina Puumalainen, the City Project Manager for Pasila, says that Central Pasila is a “strategic priority” for the City – but also the State. “The City of Helsinki and the State are working together with Tripla’s developer YIT to get the perfect result here,” she says, adding that the Tripla project provides “a unique opportunity” to create a real powerhub. “The collaboration so far has been great and we hold ourselves to a very high standard when it comes to the realisation of Tripla.” Rail Reach The new-and-improved Pasila station will be the busiest railway station in the land. The new Ring Rail Line will connect Tripla and Pasila to the Helsinki Airport and the City Rail Loop, once completed, will link up Pasila, downtown Helsinki, Hakaniemi and Töölö in a more effective manner. There is even a reservation for future metro station. 42 Nordicum The first phase of the Central Pasila project consists of realising Tripla In addition, trams and buses will continue to run through here. Also, the focus on pedestrians and cyclists will be intensified a great deal: green transport is supported by providing parking places for 3,400 bicycles (and charging stations for almost 400 electric cars). Jaakko Stauffer comments that the location of Pasila is unrivaled in the capital region. “Furthermore, with the development of Central Pasila we are able to bring East and West Pasila together in a brand new way.” This new, greener Pasila will also feature green roofs which will cover one third of the total roof area of Tripla – and be utilised elsewhere as well since the entire Cen- Vallila features a strong financial sector cluster. Banking & insurance company Pohjola’s new building is currently under construction. tral Pasila is realised under the principle of sustainability. There will also be a public park for the residents, located in the middle of the area. The diverse Tripla Centre – designed to be comfortable in terms of both functionality and landscape – will feature offices, shops and a conference centre, housing, hotel, multipurpose arena and a terminal for public transport. According to Puumalainen, the Pasila station will be totally transformed into a modern meeting place that will certainly add something extra to the urban experience. “This is perfectly in line with the present-day offering of Pasila, since a lot of Helsinki’s top culture and entertainment attractions are already located here”, she says.