Katajanokka Prison to be converted into a luxury business hotel
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Katajanokka Prison is to be converted into a high quality business hotel. The lengthy negotiations on a deal came to an end yesterday as Linnan kundit, a company owned by a group of private investors, bought the former prison estate for EUR 2.65 million from Senate Properties.
The prison will be converted into a hotel by combining the smaller prison cells and turning them into hotel rooms. The new hotel will feature 110 rooms, along with conference facilities and restaurants.
The National Board of Antiquities has defined the terms on the renovation of the former prison property. The facade, prison chapel, and staircases must remain in their original condition. The total cost of the investment will be approximately EUR 14 million, with the redevelopment cost thus running at over EUR 11 million.
The aim is to start the construction work in spring 2006 and open the hotel to guests in early 2007.
The construction work has been speeded up by the site's existing city plan, confirmed in the end of 2004, which enables the property's conversion into a hotel.
Erkki Vaalasranta, the chief engineer from Senate Properties, believes the redevelopment project will proceed, as the ownership of Linnan kundit (the name is a pun on the Finnish words for "jailbirds") was expanded according to the vendor's wishes. The recent ownership and financing rearrangements caused the deal to be prolonged.
According to Heimo Käyhty, the managing director of Primehotels and the future operator of the hotel, the listed old building provides a unique setting for the development of hotel operations.
"The facilities will be fitted out according to the latest requirements of the hotel industry. However, the unique environment will be visible in the new hotel milieu."
Käyhty is convinced the redevelopment project's budget will not be exceeded. "We have rather been prone to overestimated the cost."
The oldest part of the prison complex was built in the 1830s. The last prisoners left the prison premises in 2002. The former prison is surrounded by a park owned by the City of Helsinki, bordered by the prison wall.
Käyhty believes increased demand will guarantee the stability of the local hotel market in the future, in spite of several ongoing hotel development projects in the Greater Helsinki area.
Helsingin Sanomat
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| 6.10.2005 - TODAY |
 Katajanokka Prison to be converted into a luxury business hotel
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