Kaunas largest business center has been opened – Magnum has risen in place of a ghost, and the mayor has an office in it | Deal

Kaunas Manhattan is a complex of three new glass business centers – Sqvero, Arka and Magnum – on Karaliaus Mindaugas Avenue. The third office building, which officially opened its doors on Thursday, is the largest of them, sprouting in the place of the ghost of the “Republic”, which has long obscured the image of the city. It is the tallest building in Naujamiestis after the restoration of Independence: the height of Tower A is 42.2 meters.

The hustle and bustle of downtown Kaunas and the life of a modern office building also dominated as a leitmotif in a video created especially for the inauguration of Magnum with the KTU Jaunystė academic choir led by maestro Danguolė Beinarytė. The harmony of the sounds, sights and music of the city is used to see a typical workday through the eyes of a Magnum employee.

The business center itself is characterized by the concept of “city within a city”, when all the most important daily services are found in the same building: bank, dentist, beauty, telecommunications, tourism and even floristry. And an after work trip to the theater, a Euroleague game or the future “Science Island” will take up to 10 minutes.

Visvaldas Matijošaitis, the mayor of the city, also spoke about the unrecognizable changed place of the Kaunas city center, first going up to the Magnum rooftop, which offers a unique panorama of Nemunas island and the city center.

“For a long time I enjoyed the view of how everything came from here from scratch: 5 office buildings. For many years, residents of Kaunas felt embarrassed to transport guests down King Mindaugas Avenue, one of the main thoroughfares of city ​​transport. Ghost skeletons also “welcomed” sports fans from all over the continent in Kaunas. Glad those skeletons, like an old nightmare, end up in the past. Today we have a whole new quarter here : three modern business centers with thousands of modern high value-added jobs. This is one of the great examples of how the face of the city is significantly renewed and, at the same time, the residents of Kaunas themselves are changing, “said V Matijošaitis.

The mayor rejoiced with the architects, the builders, and was proud of his son, who also installed a cabinet upstairs for him.

“It is not the biggest cabinet, but … I will be able to return in 2.5 years. It is never too late to learn and return. It is good that the city is reviving without waiting for the help of Vilnius for the moment”, V. Matijošaitis, who did smiling at everyone, he spoke about the desire to dive into the business world again.

Investment – 30 million. euros

Magnum was appointed by the director of the Vičiūnai Group, which implemented the project, as a kind of mirror of the recent changes in Kaunas.

“We started the project with the slogan” Investment in change“ – We have invested in changes to this exceptional, but long undeservedly abandoned place in Kaunas. However, we would not be alone in making this change. For the excellent result of the team, I thank Kaminta, a general contractor who has applied all my 26 years of experience in construction, and Archas, an architectural firm that has designed an innovative complex. Also to the professional and trustworthy Newsec team managing it, the tenants who have already rented most of Magnum, and all the residents of Kaunas, for their patience in the city center instead of the old ruins when a new one is born bussiness center. Today we can all be happy with the result, ”said Šarūnas Matijošaitis.

In September, Magnum will be located and managed by more than 9,000 people. The headquarters of the Vičiūnai Group, which has employees throughout Europe. Vičiūnai, together with its related agribusiness group Groward Group, will operate on the floors of towers 7-12 A.

15 minutes When asked by a journalist if he would make another initial investment in the construction of Magnum, Š.Matijošaitis assured that he did not promise to enter the expected 30 million. estimate of the euro.

“There was work that was not done, it saved money. There were some that were also done, so the same amount was left. The most expensive were the construction and the technologies that we installed: heating and cooling system on the roof, geothermal heating. Furthermore, the façade is quite complicated, because it is sloping, structurally it is like a roof, ”explained Š.Matijošaitis, who did not reveal the rental price of one square meter, it changes and depends on the client’s needs.

It doesn’t see Arka and Sqver business centers as competitors; there is a synergy: a building will never serve itself and “neighbors” are needed. Also, previously open offices are already full, so there is no competition as a result.

When asked if any potential tenants failed to keep their promise to move to Magnum due to the quarantine, Š. Matijošaitis said yes. No additional investment was needed due to the security requirements of the pandemic.

“The tenants on their premises behave in a way that is most convenient for them,” said S. Matijošaitis.

Grand construction in the city center

“The investor trusted our architectural vision. The fidelity to the idea and the countless hours of work have become a result that we like. We hope that this larger business center in an important location for the city sets a good tone for new high-quality projects in Kaunas, ”said architect Tomas Kuleša, one of the project’s authors.

The head of the company Kaminta, which carried out the works, highlighted the possibility of directly contributing to the rebirth of this part of the city.

“We implemented a truly unique project: we carried out construction work in the center of the city, surrounded by other buildings and people, so we had to work more carefully. We have overcome the challenge of turning the abandoned place of Kaunas into the heart of the central business district with our own hands, ”said Ramūnas Kaminskas, principal of Kamum, Magnum’s general contractor.

„Magnum: key figures and facts

The participants of the tours organized during the inauguration had the opportunity to meet the most interesting of these 32 thousand. kv. m total area of ​​complex venues: a rooftop view of one of the tallest buildings in the new city, corporate offices based on the latest solutions, conference rooms flexibly transformed according to demand, restaurants and other business services at the bottom of the building.

The business center also has a new concept of a Luminor customer service center, a restaurant for business lunches Lunch up, a Tez Tour travel agency, technical advice on solar energy projects Detra Solar, a car software company Voltas IT And other companies.

A total of 18 thousand. kv. m of leased space in the business center has already been leased more than 10 thousand. kv. meter. The rented office can occupy 20 m2. meters, and several thousand square meters. meters.

The complex, consisting of two 8- and 12-story towers, will employ a total of about 1,700 people. The towers are connected to the level of the first three floors, so in total the building has three terraces with panoramic views of the city.

“Technologically, something very interesting was done: part of the building was demolished, the construction of another building began, demolishing another part. The construction took place in the center of the city. Some of the underground parking walls were within a meter of the existing adjacent historic buildings. It was a terrible challenge for builders and builders. And the underground parking lot – minus two floors, the depth of the well was just below the average water level “, – what challenges did you face in this object? 15 minutes explained the architect T. Kuleša.

The most important thing, according to him, was to provide the people who worked at the Magnum facility with as much natural light and comfort as possible. Glass serves this purpose. The chosen architectural form – a triangle – allowed to create more façade to have as little space as possible without natural light.

“We have presented two options. Investors chose the one with the highest character, not the moderate one. We did not follow the simplest and most pragmatic path. This is what a company usually chooses: required space and low construction costs. And in this In any case, there was a desire to create more added value for the city. We raised, we raised a child and, as a colleague said, now we will leave him on the street. I wonder what it will be like in ten years, “smiled the architect.

There is a bicycle storage room with showers and changing rooms, and a two-story underground car park. During working hours, according to Š.Matijošaitis, city residents will be able to leave their cars in the above-ground parking lot for free for a specified period of time. You will have to pay for it in the afternoon.

Magnum will also have several electric car charging stations, with the number projected to increase to 50 in the future. On the second floor, there is a conference room that can accommodate various events and transform into four different sizes as required. 10 to several hundred people will be able to participate in your events, as needed.

The authors of the project are the architects Tomas Kuleša, Mantas Navalinskas and Gintaras Čepurna. They admitted that five years ago they were as little known as when they suddenly had the opportunity to present an architectural vision for the construction of the largest business center in Kaunas. The architects revealed that when they asked investors what their vision was, they heard the answer: “There must be sex.” Until then, the ruins of the unfinished hotel “Respublika” had become part of the identity of Kaunas, identical to the city itself.

Vilius Šiliauskas, director of the Kaunas city municipality administration, wished the Kaunas flag to Š.Matijošaitis: “So that you don’t forget where you are.”