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Thursday, 28.03.2024, 12:24
Estonian bank planning park, apartment building where Maxima supermarket once collapsed
The complex
of the apartment building and the supermarket originally belonged to property
developer Homburg Zolitude. Last May,
Estonian bank Eesti Krediidipank
bought the property at auction for 3.9 mln euros. At the moment, it belongs to
the company Prana Property which,
according to Firmas.lv data, is a
subsidiary of Coop Pank.
The Riga
city council's committee on buildings degrading the environment on Friday
reviewed maintenance of the building at 20 Priedaines Street. As reported, a Maxima supermarket, located at the same
address as the apartment building, collapsed in 2013, killing 54
people. According to the committee's chairman Olegs Burovs, the Riga city council's property department has
received several residents' complaints about the deteriorating apartment building.
Although the department has asked the owners to improve the building's
appearance, it has not been done yet.
Prana Property's representative Raul Keskula told the committee that this was due to
miscommunication between his company and the Riga municipality, and that
the company was planning to renovate the building's exterior by December
15. Keskula said that, later on, Coop
Pank was planning to complete construction of the apartment building.
He added
that the project envisaged completing the construction of the building, as well
as an underground parking lot and a park, which would be developed around the
memorial to the victims of the tragedy. The first floor of the building could
house a florist's and cafes.
Burovs
replied that his department had already rejected the idea. "I personally
believe that only the memorial should remain there," said Burovs.
The
contention is primarily about the underground parking lot, located right where
the supermarket once stood. Alona Burve,
one of the survivors of Zolitude tragedy, said that her husband had died in the
disaster and she herself was trapped under the debris on that fateful day.
"I
have seen a lot of cynicism in my life, but nothing like what I saw
today," she said, adding that she and the other people, whose loved ones
were killed when Maxima collapsed,
would never agree that an underground parking lot is built there.