This post was automatically translated into English
Tomorrow, the 6,300 sq m shopping center “Pupa”, built by the real estate development company “Eika” in nine months and costing LTL 40 million, will open its doors to invited guests in the Pilaitė district of the capital.
Tomorrow, the 6,300 sq m shopping center “Pupa”, built by the real estate development company “Eika” in nine months and costing LTL 40 million, will open its doors to invited guests in the Pilaitė district of the capital.
The actors of the Kaunas Pantomime Theatre will perform a miniature performance for the guests of the opening ceremony, and on Holy Saturday, the band “Kitava”, which combines Lithuanian folk music with elements of rock, jazz and pop music, will perform here, and there will be an award ceremony for the winners of the children’s drawing competition and lotteries.
The first customers will arrive at the stores “Danija”, “Topo centras”, “Iki”, “Vagos” bookstore and beauty salon located in “Pupa” on Holy Saturday – March 22.
Two more companies are participating in the business and maintenance management of the shopping center: the company “City service” will provide administration and maintenance services for the facility management process, and the premises rental business is managed by the international commercial real estate consulting company “Koba”.
According to the shopping center architects Arūnas Paslaitis and Vytenis Gerliakas, “Pupa” is characterized by an abundance of natural light and the transparency of the building. Additional lightweight structures that do not obscure the building are designed for advertising boards in this center.
The recognizable architectural motif of the building is a rhombus, as this is the shape of the plot itself. The rhombus repeats itself, appearing and disappearing on the facade of the building and in the 50 sq. m. recreational area of the shopping center, where there will be two named benches for visitors to sit on: “Žirnis” and “Pupa”.
“Pilaitė residents, famous for their strong community, will now be able to meet not only on the landings, but also in “Pupa”, they should also be happy about the opportunity to have lunch with the whole family at “Fortos dvars” on the weekend,” says Viktorija Venclovaitė, project manager at “Eika”, who also supervised the project of this shopping center.
According to Eika employees, until now, Pilaitė residents could only purchase essential food products in their area, and now more services will be available here: two dry cleaners, bank branches, mobile phone company showrooms, a juice bar and beauty salon, an optical center, and a key factory. Eika plans to build another shopping center on the plot it owns in Pilaitė. It should be up and running by the beginning of 2010.
“The new districts of Vilnius lack liveliness and public spaces. In the cozy new Topo centras store, you will not only be able to choose the product you like, but also rent a DVD or use the services of an internet cafe,” says Česlovas Steigvila, general director of Topo centras, a medium-sized store located in the new shopping center.
This is the fourth shopping center built by Eika – in addition to the Aušra store in Utena, the company has built Ikiukė in the Santariškės settlement and a specialized SBA furniture showroom in Klaipėda. The latter project, which cost 24 million LTL, was opened at the beginning of this year.
For now, the company is following a strategy of building shopping centers and selling or leasing them to another management company. However, in the future, it plans to not only construct buildings, but also manage them.