On Monday, a store of the retail chain “Iki” was opened on Karaliaučiaus Street in Vilnius, which has fully formed the project “Eika namai Pilaitė” belonging to the real estate development and construction services group of companies “Eika”. Investments in the store amount to 3 million euros.
The modern “Iki” store is built to meet the latest company standards. The 1,443 sq. m. store features spacious sections for fresh fruit and vegetables, milk, weighed meat and fresh fish on ice, and cakes and pastries made by “Iki” confectioners. Bread and buns are baked on site three times a day, and customers in a hurry can choose from a wide selection of hot and cold culinary products. For faster shopping, the new store has 6 “Iki Bitutė” cash registers, as well as 4 regular cash registers. For the convenience of customers, the store is open daily from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m.
“We have made a lot of efforts to ensure that the “Iki” store is located in our project. People living in the block will be able to celebrate the most beautiful holidays of the year without standing in traffic jams traveling to shopping centers, and will be able to visit the store located in the northern part of the block in peace and at a time convenient for them. Although we encountered problems with the supply of materials during the construction phase, which required a larger team involvement than usual for projects of this size, we coped with the challenges and built a store that meets the A++ energy class in an incredibly short time – 5 months,” says Giedrius Brūzgė, Director of the Property Management Department at “Eika”.
“Eika namai Pilaitė” – a neighborhood that is convenient for residents of all ages
“Eika namai Pilaitė” on Karaliaučiaus St. was developed in 2017. The construction of the project took place in three stages. In the first stage of the project development, three 9-storey buildings with 200 apartments were built. In response to changing consumer needs, in one of these buildings, apartments were sold only fully furnished. During the second stage, two six-storey apartment buildings “N8” and “N9” were built, adding 90 apartments to the housing supply. During the third stage, the last two six-storey buildings “N5” and “N7” with 95 apartments were built. During the construction, an intersection was installed near the block, sidewalks were repaired, and bicycle paths were installed.
“For the past four years, we have been nurturing this project so that the settlers of “Eika namai Pilaitė” could create a comfortable life and would be happy to move to this quarter. At the very beginning of the project, we planned to build eleven apartment buildings with 632 apartments on a 2.6-hectare plot by 2021. Listening to the needs of customers, the vision of the project began to change, we realized that we did not want to create another densely populated place in the city, where neighbors could watch TV through each other’s windows and where there would be no space outside to sit down and spend at least a short time in the fresh air. So, we adjusted the project and built 7 residential buildings with 385 apartments. By reducing the number of houses, we opened the inner courtyard and today the settlers can enjoy a 35-acre square, where trees and shrubs grow, flowers bloom, and areas for active recreation, sports and green spaces have been created. “Children can have fun on the playgrounds adapted for them, while older residents can sit on benches or have lunch in the pergola and enjoy the surrounding natural oasis,” shares Maija Nikitina, Eika project manager.
In this project, the retail chain “Iki” is not the only partner with whom cooperation is being carried out. In order to solve the problem of preschool educational institutions, a 200 sq. m kindergarten “Vaiko sparnai” was established in the block. It has 3 groups, consisting of children from 1 to 6 years old. This kindergarten also has a children’s speech therapist and psychologist’s office.
In total, Eika invested more than 32 million euros in the Eika namai Pilaitė project.