2017 is memorable for EIKAI for the complexity of its activities – the largest project in the company’s history, the LIVE SQUARE complex, was launched, including a business center, the Hilton Garden Inn hotel and prestigious apartments, the 135 business center was fully leased and sold, the EIKA Residential Fund, which is ready for development, was established, a plot of land was purchased in Naujamiestis, where construction of a 350-unit middle-class housing block will begin this year, and the Basanavičiaus 9A project, which was awarded prestigious real estate market awards, was completed..
“2017 was a year of new ambitions and project transformation. The following projects were completed: Mažvydas kvartalas in Pilaitė, “Domino namai” in Jeruzalė, “135” on Žalgirio street, “Tilto 12”. Almost all apartments in these projects have already been sold. In 2017, we began developing the most complex project in EIKA’s history – LIVE SQUARE, with investments of 49 million. EUR, we started construction of new phases in “Namų pynės” and “Bajorų alėjos”, the construction of a new quarter on Karaliaučiaus street in Pilaitė, we acquired a plot of land in Naujamiestis and the most successful achievement as a real estate developer is the sale of the “135” business center,” – EIKA’s CEO Domas Dargis lists the key achievements of 2017. According to him, the sale of a fully leased business center reflects the goals and directions of EIKA’s real estate project development – to develop the object, create value for it and realize it, and allocate the income received to other investment projects.
Last year, EIKA took another step – it began construction of a house on Karaliaučius Street in Pilaitė, where all 64 apartments will be fully furnished, and the client can choose the right finishing option with the help of EIKA virtual reality (EIKA VR).
In 2017, EIKA sold 332 apartments. In terms of the popularity of the projects, in 2017, the middle-class project “Namų pynės” took the lead in EIKA’s sales structure – 101 apartments were sold in the project, 96 economy-class apartments were sold in Pilaitė on Mažvydo and Karaliaučiaus streets across both blocks, and the third most popular, also middle-class housing project “135” – 64 apartments were sold. According to D. Dargis, such a change in the popularity of housing classes indicates the changing needs and opportunities of buyers. “Buyers either improve their living conditions by changing economy-class housing to medium-class, or choose a more comfortable life in the city center or its outskirts in a smaller apartment than they could afford in the economy segment, but much further from the city center,” D. Dargis assesses the changes in customer behavior.
In total, in 2017, the EIKA group of companies added 370 new apartments to its offer in the projects “Namų pynės”, “Bajorų alėjos” and the new project “Eika namai Pilaitė” on Karaliaučius Street. Investments in this project will reach EUR 32 million over several years.
In 2018, EIKA, in response to changing customer needs, will pay close attention to mid- and high-end projects: at the beginning of the year, sales of high-end housing in the LIVE SQUARE project started, a small-scale high-end multifunctional project at Vytauto 35 in Žvėryna will soon start (planned investment of EUR 4.3 million), and, as already mentioned, we will start a mid-end 350-apartment block in Naujamiestis, surrounded by Agoonų-Šaltinių-Mindaugo streets (planned investment of EUR 32 million). The planned investment amount of all projects under development in 2018 amounts to almost EUR 150 million, and during 2018, EUR 55 million will be invested in them.