Urban Planning | The plans to demolish shabby shopping centers stopped in Vantaa's Myyrmäki

Myyrmäki the exceptional old shopping centers Isomyyri and Myyrinpuhos have received an extension.

Vantaa withdrew from its previous plans to demolish aging and colorful shopping centers. The purpose was to build apartments in the place, in tower blocks rising up to 24 floors in height. The demolition plan was buried in December.

In this way, organizations and other cultural actors now operating in old shopping centers also get an extension.

It was decided to bury the plan because the parties could not reach an agreement on the details of the plan. However, this does not mean that the demolition of old shopping centers has been completely abandoned.

The station block complex also included a large parking garage on the east side of the main line, which has numerous owners.

Isomyurin however, the largest owner of the property, Citycon, is not discouraged. Director of Property Development Katriina Penttinen according to the aim is still to demolish the shopping center completed in 1987.

“The property no longer meets modern requirements. The goal is a formula change that enables a functional entity and functional solutions,” says Penttinen.

Myyrmäki In recent years, the city center has been dominated by large construction projects, when new residential buildings have been erected in the place of old parking areas.

Now, most of these projects are being completed, and during the week leading up to Christmas, Myyrmäenraitti, a thoroughfare favored by residents, was opened from end to end all the way to the shopping center Myyrmann.

The change was supposed to continue in the station blocks, but these planning blocks were placed in the new stations this fall.

The old ones the big problem with the demolition of shopping centers is where the extensive residents', organizations' and cultural activities that have been located in their cheap rental premises could move.

The property in Myyrinpuhok has the cultural house Myyräncolo, managed by the cooperative, which houses, among other things, the jazz club Lobby, online radio stations, media players, visual artists' workspaces and the Skenesali concert venue in the old cinema.

For years, Isomyyri has offered residents non-commercial meeting and hobby spaces, jobs for mental health rehabilitation, adult college courses and inexpensive lunches at Cafe Popolo.

There are so many organizers in Isomyyri that there are 156 tenants listed in the residential premises alone.

The nearly 1,000-square-meter youth facilities are equipped with billiard tables, a recording studio, a Game Cave for young people and a well-equipped gym for city residents of all ages.

One the future solution for at least part of this activity is The new College building designed by the city of Vantaa, which has been arranged for the former health center site called Montu. Monttu has served as a venue for events and outdoor concerts in recent years.

The new building could also accommodate a music school, a fine arts school and an adult college.

The university building could also temporarily house the arts museum Artsi, the library and other functions, if and when the ambitious project to renew Myyrmäkitalo was realized.

All however, cultural and organizational actors cannot fit in Opistalo. The situation of Myyrinpuhos tenants is particularly uncertain if the property owner's wish to demolish the shopping center completed in the mid-1970s comes true.

The property belongs to Taitokaari oy, which has submitted its own proposal for a plan change. The city stated in December that planning could not be continued based on this proposal either.

Taitokaari proposed to replace Myyrinpuhos with a total of approximately 9,000 square meters of residential construction and approximately 4,000 square meters of commercial and office space.

Station blocks the buried plan change was based on a design competition organized in 2019, in which the winning proposal planned to build 66,000 square meters on both sides of the track, of which 54,000 square meters would have been housing.

For example, a 24-story residential building was planned to replace Isomyyri.

In the joint proposal submitted by Citycon and Sato in October, the floor heights were lower. For example, the two tallest residential buildings in the Isomyyri block would have had 18 floors.

The joint proposal extended from the Isomyyri block to the other side of the track to the Lieskuja parking garage and the adjacent parking lot. Both of these sites are managed by a parking company, in which, in addition to Citycon and Sato, there are two other companies as smallholders.

Director of real estate development at Sato Antti Laine estimates that the reduction in the number of buildings in blocks will facilitate parking solutions. In the initial planning, parking spaces were tried to be further away, which would have increased the price of their implementation.

“The idea now is to renovate the old parking garage because it is sufficient to serve future needs.”

Vantaa has now ruled that the zoning process will be started from the beginning so that the area of ​​the zoning change is delimited again. According to Laine, it has not yet been agreed what this new delimitation will be.

The parties agree that the situation in the center of Myyrmäki is different now than it was four years ago, before the corona pandemic and the Russian war of aggression.

Penttinen emphasizes that the planning of the formula change will continue without any respite.

“We would have agreed to continue on the basis of this preparation, but in cooperation with the city, this will be taken forward.”

Read more: The spacious shopping center has stood as a symbol of Myyrmäki for over 40 years, now it is going to be torn down

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