Metsäkankaan shopping centre is facing a demolition order

The City of Lahti and property owner Bonava have agreed to demolish the Metsäkangas shopping centre and landscape the area.

The Metsäkankaan shopping centre, once a bustling commercial area, is disappearing from the cityscape. Most of the property has been vacant for years and is being replaced by apartment blocks.

Now the City of Lahti and the owner of the property, Bonava, have agreed that the dilapidated building will be demolished and the owner will clean up and landscape the area. The building is still occupied by a pizzeria and the Wanha Mestari pub.

In 2013, the city and the former owner of the property, NCC Rakennus oy, entered into a land use agreement, which included construction obligations. The construction obligation was given an extension so that all houses would have to be built by the end of 2019.

The land use agreement specified a fine for neglecting the construction obligation, but the city has not collected it.

Eight apartment buildings have been zoned for the plot and next to it. Two apartment buildings have been built next to the shopping center, but since then housing construction in the area has completely stopped.

Bonava itself has no interests in building apartment buildings in Metsäkanka. The company is focused on growth centers in Helsinki, Tampere and Turku.

– We have inherited the plots of Metsäkanka from NCC in 2016. Our goal is to continue to sell the plots and thereby get implementers for the project.

According to the new agreement between the city and Bonava, Bonava will now pay a fine of 250,000 euros for neglecting the construction obligation and will demolish the building by the end of this year.

The shopping center will be replaced by trees and bushes temporarily until the plot can be sold and built according to the plan.