Bank leases 7,000 m[sup]2[/sup] in office building in Riga

Colliers International has brokered a five-year leasing agreement between Latvian developer LNK Grupa and Nordea Bank Latvia under which the Aloja Business Centre will be the bank's headquarters from the latter half of 2009.

The six-storey Class-A office centre is located in the centre of Riga. Rental rates begin at EUR 20 per m². Investment costs for the centre were EUR 18 mln. Construction started in May 2007 and will be realised in three stages. The first 10,000 m² will be available in June 2009, with an additional 5,000 m² in 2011 and 10,000 m² in 2013.

Mihails Morozovs, managing partner of Colliers International in the Baltic States and Belarus, commented: 'This is one of the largest transactions in the commercial real estate field in the region of the Baltic States, and it starts a new development phase in the market of office leases. The standards and requirements brought forward by both parties were a great deal higher than the average on the market. The signed lease contract confirms the fact that the market of Latvian office premises is growing not only in quantity but also in quality.'