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International Internet Magazine. Baltic States news & analytics Thursday, 28.03.2024, 16:52

Estonian businessman Urmas Soorumaa to buy Tallinn's Patarei complex

BC, Tallinn, 21.11.2019.Print version
A company of Estonian businessman Urmas Soorumaa was the only one to file a bid in the auction of the complex of the Patarei sea fortress in Tallinn, accroding to the daily Postimees information reported on Wednesday.

State real estate management company RKAS put the buildings of the Patarei sea fortress in Tallinn up for auction with a starting price of 4.5 mln euros. The complex of the sea fortress is located at the addresses 28 and 30 Kalaranna Street and 4 Vesilennuki Street. 


Soorumaa did not wish to declare the price of the transaction but said that it was slightly higher than the starting price.


"I think that there aren't many people who could make something out of Patarei," Soorumaa said. The businessman also referred to the experience he gained from the renovation of the Rotermann Quarter in Tallinn's city center.


According to Soorumaa's vision, the Patarei sea fortress should be turned into a multifunctional environment suitable for living, working as well as for leisure and entertainment. He estimated the renovated sea fortress could be completed in five years' time, the daily wrote.


According to the news portal of public broadcaster ERR, the architectural solution of the bid was drawn up by architectural firm Arhitekt11.


However, being the only bidder for the fortress does not make the company an automatic winner. Next, the evaluation committee will check the documents submitted by the bidder for compliance with the conditions set for the buyer. When it is established that the conditions are met, the second envelope with the bidder's price offer will be opened. If the auction proves successful, Soorumaa will be determined the winner and the outcome of the auction will be endorsed in mid-December.


U.S. Invest, owned by Soorumaa, founded a separate company, Nikolai Esimene OU, for making the bid. With the name of the new company, Soorumaa referred to Emperor Nicholas I of Russia, who was the one to order the start of the construction of the Patarei sea fortress.


In 1828, Emperor Nicholas I of Russia endorsed a defense plan of Tallinn in accordance with which a coastal defense battery started to be built soon at a location where coastal defense structures from the era of Swedish rule had stood earlier. Construction of the massive building of the Patarei sea fortress started in 1829 and the building was completed by 1840.


Patarei was used as Russian army barracks since 1867 and converted into a prison in 1919, serving in that capacity under different governments and regimes until 2002.






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