Kesko : to make capital expenditure of ?100 million in Itäkeskus, Helsinki »

KESKO CORPORATION PRESS RELEASE 19.01.2015 AT 11.30 1(2)                            

Kesko will build a new and modern shopping centre in the area of the current K-citymarket in Itäkeskus, eastern Helsinki. The centre, to be built phase by phase, will have a special focus on food, enjoyable leisure time and encounters. The plan of the area also enables housing construction.

The first phase of the shopping centre will be completed at the end of 2017. The floor area will be 26,000 square metres and the capital expenditure will be about €100 million.

"After completion, the new centre will provide customers with a superior shopping experience and enterprises with the most advanced environment in the country for multi-channel operations. Thanks to technology, enterprises will be able to operate and customers to shop both physically and virtually in the centre," says Kesko's President and CEO Mikko Helander.

The property to be built first will house a new K-citymarket and several restaurants, cafes and areas for meeting other people as well as services for spending time together and enjoying leisure.

The aim is that as soon as the first phase has been completed the construction will continue with the demolition of the current K-citymarket property, followed by the construction of the second phase of the centre.

The construction of the whole shopping centre will take several years and the capital expenditure will be hundreds of millions of euros.

When planning the new shopping centre, special emphasis is placed on its good accessibility and pleasant outdoor areas. The City of Helsinki will build a new connecting road to the area from the Itäväylä highway from the Marjaniementie roundabout. In addition to car, the new centre will have easy access by bus, metro, bike or on foot.

Kesko has a strong local plan for the area under development, which enables the construction of 8,400 square metres of floor area for housing in addition to commercial services.

K-citymarket will be built first

The construction project of the shopping centre will start in late winter, when the old office building located between the Lyypekinaukio square and the Itäväylä highway will be pulled down to be replaced by a temporary car park.

The commercial premises of the first phase of the centre will mainly be built on the car park of the current store and will also house the new K-citymarket.

The food store of the current K-citymarket and the Alko shop located in the property will serve customers as usual during the construction of the new property.

The new modern shopping centre of eastern Helsinki in brief:

• The total permitted floor area of the shopping centre is about 62,000 sq.m. for business and about 8,400 floor sq.m. for housing construction.
• The permitted floor area of the first phase is 26,000 sq.m. and the area for rent will be 20,000 sq.m.
• The capital expenditure of the first phase will be €100 million. The employing impact will be about 250 person-years during the period of two years.

Further information available from Antti Palomäki, Kesko's District Director for the Greater Helsinki Area, tel. [phone].

Illustrative drawings of the shopping centre may be downloaded at: www.kesko.fi/aineistopankki

Kesko (www.kesko.fi) is a retail specialist whose stores offer quality to the daily lives of consumers. Kesko has about 2,000 stores engaged in chain operations in the Nordic and Baltic countries, Russia, and Belarus.