The empty Helsinki hall is said to be in even better condition now than when it was captured after the start of the war of aggression against Russia.
It looks deserted. You could imagine that the building has been abandoned in those places.
At nine o’clock in the morning, there is no life in the surroundings of the former Hartwall arena, i.e. the current Helsinki hall. Will there be anyone moving around in the area later?
At nine o’clock in the morning, there is no life in the surroundings of the former Hartwall arena, i.e. the current Helsinki hall.
No events have been held in the arena since February 2022, when Russia started its war of aggression in Ukraine
Russian oligarchs Gennady Timchenko and by Roman Rotenberg owned by Areena, no events have been organized since February 2022, when Russia started its war of aggression in Ukraine.
Thanks to the boycott of the event organizers and sanctions aimed at the oligarchs, the arena located in Pasila is expected to grow before long.
Before the war, the side of the arena on the side of the railway track was bustling with life even during the day, because the entrance to both the office space and the training hall is located there. Now only one car can be seen in the parking lot.
Roman Rotenberg, Hjallis Harkimo and Gennadi Timchenko in the mood in 2013, when the arena changed hands.
However, it is pointless to look for boards in the windows of the office premises, and there are no other traditional signs of abandoned places.
In fact, there are lights shining from a few office rooms, and on closer inspection, one service door is invitingly open. From there, the first signs of life are carried.
From there one of the employees of Helsinki Halli Oy can be found.
“Or would you like to see what it looks like inside the arena? Unfortunately, it won’t work. We [areenan työntekijät] we are currently also responsible for the access control of the arena, and we do not have permission to let anyone from outside,” says the man kindly.
“We are also not allowed to talk about arena matters. We have written a non-disclosure agreement with the arena management.”
It is quiet in the grounds of the former Hartwall arena. The employees of the arena do not keep their voice either, because they have written a non-disclosure agreement.
The Jokerit ice hockey club has its office next to the arena.
The anti-Russian slogan near the arena has been modified to be pro-Russian.
Multi-layered when you enter the space under the parking garage, you can already see more cars in the parking screens. In one of the office rooms, a woman is working at a computer, who seems to be puzzled by the guests who have appeared in the yard.
Coincidence or not, he seems to be calling somewhere right away.
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“We are not allowed to let anyone from the outside in. We are also not allowed to talk about arena matters. We have written a non-disclosure agreement with the arena management.”
Soon, the Photographer and I find our way to the large double doors, from the windows of which you can see some of the arena’s corridor backstage.
Like this one, the other doors are also tightly closed.
The lights in the corridor are on, is the ice machine or Zamboni not dusty at all. It seems rather washed.
When we are about to shoot the interior from behind the window, one of the doors opens.
“Hello, sorry, but filming the interior is prohibited,” says the man.
We hadn’t noticed the sign prohibiting filming before the arena employee showed up. The purpose was to verify whether the information from the background interviews conducted in advance is correct.
Helsinki hall according to several insider sources, is in even better shape today than when he was arrested more than a year and a half ago.
The persons interviewed anonymously said that the employees had tailored regular cleaning shifts among themselves.
“The arena has been taken care of to the last detail. Many kinds of property maintenance have been done there – both the renovation of certain places and, for example, the polishing of sheds,” one of the sources said in background interviews.
“Employees have, for example, gone to flush toilets and open water faucets. The stands have also been tuned regularly.”
“We wanted to keep the places in such condition that, in principle, the arena could be opened for public use at any time.”
This information is also confirmed by the employee who came to prohibit photography.
“I can probably say that, yes, the interior of the arena has been taken care of.”
This is what the arena floor looks like on a normal weekday.
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“We wanted to keep the places in such condition that, in principle, the arena could be opened for public use at any time.”
About decay so there is obviously no danger. This is explained by the good financial situation of the background company of the arena, Helsinki Halli Oy.
At the general meeting last November, it was reported that there were more than seven million euros in the treasury. According to recent insider information, the treasury has not substantially weakened.
Before the Russian invasion, there were enough events in Areena, not least because its background company collected a very moderate rent from the organizers.
However, dividends were not paid to the Russians who own Areena’s voting shares, because the background company did not want to take any risks related to sanctions legislation.
Therefore, the company was left with all the profits, which have been used, among other things, for payments necessary for the maintenance of the arena.
“The ice in Areena has not been made, but otherwise it has been wanted to keep it up-to-date, so to speak,” says the source.
The mayor of the city of Helsinki, Juhana Vartiainen, wants the Helsinki Hall to be owned by a Westerner.
Helsinki it is in the city’s interests to get the arena ready for events as quickly as possible. Tampere has overtaken Helsinki as Finland’s largest event organizer.
“The city’s interest is that the ownership of the hall should be transferred to a reliable, Western – or Finnish – owner”, Mayor of the City of Helsinki Juhana Vartiainen said at the end of August.
In practice, the opening will most obviously succeed only when the ownership of the arena is in new hands. It won’t be easy, because Timchenko and Rotenberg have been reluctant to sell the hall.
Because of this, the state is currently preparing a law that would enable expropriation in deadlock situations like the Helsinki Hall.
Another way could be foreclosure, if the background company of the arena cannot meet its land lease obligations to the city of Helsinki.
In August, Helsinki Halli Oy unexpectedly did not pay the ground rent installment of around one hundred thousand euros. It was the first time since the hall was closed that the land rent, which falls four times a year, was not paid regularly.
Message told Thursday the reason: the Finnish bank has frozen the company’s payment traffic for the time being.
Our tour stops for a while because the cameraman adjusts his camera.
At the same moment, the car that pulled into the parking lot suddenly turns around and immediately snorts in the direction it came from, accelerating hard.
The office of the next-door hockey club Jokeri seems to be open. After ringing the doorbell, Joker’s office worker rushes to open the door.
Once inside, he goes to ask for the Joker’s spokesperson Iiro Keurulainen.
He doesn’t seem to know about arena matters either. The long coexistence of Jokers and the arena seems like a distant memory.
“I only know about arena matters from what I’ve read in the newspapers,” says Keurulainen.
“I haven’t been inside the arena, because even the Jokers are forbidden to enter there.”
Helsingin Uutiset visited Areena in December. Then HU’s reporter had entered the arena unimpeded. The story is readable from here.
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