Construction A giant project that has been incubated for years in Mellunkylä is progressing: next to the metro station, old residential buildings are being demolished

Eight After a year of investigation and one change in the law, the revolution in the Mellunkylä large block is progressing.

On Monday, the Helsinki City Government will discuss a change in the plan, which will make it possible to demolish seven residential buildings and build larger ones to replace them.

There are so many new homes coming in that the population of the block is growing by about 1,750. There are now about 250 inhabitants.

The current 3–4-storey houses are to be replaced by mainly 6–8-storey houses.

Complicated Decision-making began in January 2014, when the boards of Asunto-osakeyhtiö Pallaksentie 1 and Asunto-osakeyhtiö Ounasvaarantie 2 decided to investigate the demolition of the new construction.

Plumbing renovations were planned for the houses completed in the 1960s, but the need to repair the houses proved so great that the cost of repairs in the larger dwellings was in excess of the value of the dwellings.

As early as the summer of 2014, it was clear that the project would not proceed under the then legislation. Demolition of new construction was only possible at that time if no shareholder opposed it. When there were another hundred shareholders, complete unanimity was not in sight.

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Situation changed in March 2019, when the amendments to the Housing Companies Act on demolition new construction came into force.

The Annual General Meeting can now decide on the matter by a four-fifths qualified majority. An investor or construction company that has acquired more than 90 percent of the shares in a demolished housing company has the right to redeem the remaining shares at the current price.

Last November the threshold was exceeded and a sufficient number of shareholders had accepted the investor group’s takeover bid.

Shareholders can continue to live as tenants in their existing homes after housing transactions and have a pre-emptive right to purchase new houses.

A new light rail line is planned for Mellunmäentie, which crosses the area. Picture: Jukka Turtiainen / Arkkitehtipalvelu oy

Of the old the demolition of the houses has been opposed by some shareholders since the beginning of the project. One of them has approached the city government with a letter urging a thorough investigation into the legality of the plan project and the decision-making of his housing company.

Rapporteur – Chief Registry Officer Sami Sarvilinna refers to the decision of the Supreme Administrative Court that the formula decision does not take a position on the decision-making of companies.

Read more: In Eastern Helsinki, it is planned to demolish seven apartment buildings – Homeowners agree on sales prices