Nokia reserves plots for new office building in both Espoo and Helsinki

Mobile giant also in talks with Elisa over purchasing Radiolinja head office

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Mobile phone giant Nokia wants to reserve a plot for a new large office building both in Espoo and in Helsinki.
      In Espoo Nokia is after the site of a secondary school building set to be demolished, while in Helsinki the company has set its sights on a piece of land in Salmisaari, next to the Länsiväylä bridge.
      Both the City of Helsinki Real Estate Board and the Espoo City Government will discuss the issue in their sessions today, Tuesday.
      Should both cities accept Nokia's reservation, the company will have until the end of June next year to decide on which site to build its new office.
     
Nokia aspires to develop its operations in the capital area by adding a new 30,000 to 40,000-square-metre office building to its portfolio. Around a thousand employees from the company's other offices would be transferred into the new complex.
      Nokia employs over 10,000 people in total in the Helsinki area.
      According to Juhani Katko, Head of Real Estate from Nokia Asset Management, the new building would primarily serve the needs of Nokia's R&D department.
      "This is not a bidding contest between Helsinki and Espoo. We have simply been advised by both cities to reserve the sites now. Otherwise we might not get either one of them, as, once on open market, they will go quickly.
     
In Salmisaari, Nokia's building would make up a third of the planned office space in the redevelopment area.
      From the business policy point of view, Nokia's proposal is described as well-reasoned. Nokia's name is believed to draw other businesses into the area as well.
      "It all looks very positive. We're already negotiating with other businesses on further use of the Salmisaari area", confirms Juhani Tuuttila of the City of Helsinki Real Estate Department.
      The Salmisaari redevelopment area becomes vacant as the coal storages that have been occupying the area are being transferred into underground silos.
      Nokia would probably end up paying between EUR 15-25 million for the site. The new office building would cost an estimated EUR 45-60 million.
     
Nokia is also negotiating with the telecommunications services provider Elisa Group about purchasing the Radiolinja network operator's building, located right next to Nokia's head office in Keilalahti.
      According to Katko, the problem with the Radiolinja building is that it has inadequate parking facilities, and generating new parking spaces in the area is virtually impossible.
      The 20,000-square-metre building was finished in 2001 and cost EUR 50 million.


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