Nordicum - Real Estate Annual Finland 2016 | Page 30

services and a charging point for electric
cars.
Heavily favoured by citizens and companies alike, the Leppävaara area is developing rapidly. The area is characterised
by business park complexes with several
buildings: NCC Alberga, NCC’s and Lemminkäinen’s joint venture Polaris and Hartela’s Quartetto. Also SRV’s new headquarters
is located in the neighbourhood.

Who Needs A Car?
In the autumn 2015, Leppävaara became the
“rail capital of Espoo”, as the Turku-bound
trains will stop only here and nowhere else
in the City. The increased connectivity has
attracted a lot of young professionals into the
neighbourhood that wouldn’t think of getting a car – Leppävaara has all the services
available within walking distance.
Mika Rantala, City Project Manager
for Leppävaara, says that about half of the
households here don’t have a car – and are
doing just fine. ”The community has a dedicated pedestrian mindset and “walkability”
will only be enhanced in the future,” Rantala promises.
“We are expanding the pedestrian city
centre area and adding a more urban feel,
especially to the northern side of the city
centre.”
Walkability extends to going to work,
it turns out. Almost 10,000 people are
employed within the community, and the

Running the Hub

rise of the office complexes continues to be
intense. Rantala points out that Leppävaara
has been busy building offices throughout the recession – while elsewhere in the
Helsinki Metropolitan Area, the construction efforts have been much more modest,
at times.
“We have the makings of a great hybrid
city here, one that features both offices and
residential assets and is active 24/7,” Rantala says.

Arrival of the metro and the new bus terminal will provide the approximately 40,000
residents of Matinkylä with great public
transport connections to Helsinki and all
parts of Espoo. Since Matinkylä is the final
stop for the new line, it is a crucial feeder
traffic hub which is estimated to serve over
35,000 passengers daily. In fact, based on
passenger forecasts, it will be the busiest
station of the new line.
At the very core of things, NCC
Property Development and Citycon are making a genuine “metro centre,” conveniently
linking the metro station, bus terminal and
the shopping centre. Markus Saari says that
the top level of the new metro centre will be
reserved for municipal services: the City will
have as much as 6,000 square metres of public services here, including a large library
and the health centre. The development will
open to public in August 2016.
Also, the environs of the station will
be developed into a services/wellbeing park
which will feature a lot of “grey power”:
according to Saari, the City is committed to
providing solutions that will make the area
enjoyable especially to senior citizens.
“We want to launch our new ‘senior
living’ concept right here, complete with a
full range of services,” he says, adding that
as the population of Finland keeps aging,
someone has to be a pioneer in the field of
providing smart residential solutions for the
elderly.

Matching Matinkylä
Another community that is linked by rails
and powered by retail is Matinkylä, the end
of the line – for now – for the new metroline. The dominant feature in Matinkylä is
the shopping centre Iso Omena, the fifth
biggest shopper’s paradise in the land. The
Matinkylä metro station is being developed
at the southern end of the shopping centre.
The arrival of metro is expected to
attract both new businesses and residents
here. Markus Saari, Project Director for the
City of Espoo, sees great things waiting for
the neighbourhood. As per the Matinkylä –
Olari development vision, the area will be
developed from the viewpoint of community, providing high quality accommodation,
new jobs and well-being for all citizens. In
the future, this city centre located between
the sea and Espoo Central Park will feature
even more services, recreational activ ]Y\˜[