The first homes of Ülemiste City were presented today which marks an important milestone in the development of the largest business centre in the Baltic states, turning the well-known business and learning environment into a residential environment with permanent inhabitants as well. 

The modern, 13-storey residential building with 81 rental apartments is primarily designed for short- and long-term accommodation for the talents of the companies operating in the campus.  The building also provides a cosy temporary home for domestic as well as foreign tourists and business travellers, though. 

“One minute to work. One minute to home. One minute to the gym. One minute to a restaurant. One minute to anywhere. This convenience ideally reflects our ambition to create an environment which brings everything that the talents need in life within the reach of their fingertips. It is now also a home,” said Margus Nõlvak, Head of Mainor Ülemiste. 

There are almost 500 companies and 10,000 people already operating in Ülemiste City. A third of the Estonian IT export comes from here and this sector is also making the greatest effort for their talents. “The talent in the international labour market is demanding and expects to find a good working environment and to be able to acclimatise quickly – among other things, they expect high-quality homes. By providing convenient rental apartments, we are helping our companies to compete for the talents.” 

Everything is smart, including in the apartments 

In addition to views of the silhouette of the city, the airport, and Lake Ülemiste, the new apartments in the Lurich House also provide the attractions of a smart home. Quite a few smart features have been integrated in them – there is a panel on the wall in every apartment which can be used to call a cab, to order food, the cleaning service or the elevator, or to change the room temperature or see the weather forecast. The air conditioner is automatically switched off when a window or the balcony door is opened. 

All needs of disabled visitors have also been kept in mind. And, naturally, smart is the keyword here as well. For example, curtains can be operated by using a remote control, technology can be used to move the shelves in the kitchen and the coat hooks to appropriate heights, and cabinet doors are also opened by the same method. Motion sensors switch on the light in the kitchen. 

There are one-, two, and three-room fully furnished apartments plus one five-room penthouse. There is clear interest and demand for buying the smart premium class apartments, as well as entire floors. 

An eight-storey office tower is also being built, with a few last commercial premises still available there. The two buildings together form the so-called Lurich House which was opened today. “Our buildings are named after Estonian innovators. The legendary wrestler Georg Lurich was undoubtedly one of them – and not only in sports, but in the field of nutrition as well. Thus, he is an ideal match being beside the restaurants in our centre, as well as for one of the most visited sports clubs in Estonia, MyFitness,” explained Nõlvak. 

The paintings which will be decorating the walls of the apartments in the Lurich House were painted by Jose Aldemar Muñoz Ñustes, a modern art master’s student at the Estonian Academy of Arts. The painter was inspired by studying the invisible realities which surround the human body. 

The campus is reaching the dimensions of a city 

According to a new study, the contribution of Ülemiste City as a rapidly developing business environment to the Estonian economy is already equal to that of the fifth largest city in Estonia after Tallinn, Tartu, Pärnu, and Narva. 

Nõlvak says that by 2025 the number of people working, studying, and living in the campus will double and exceed 20,000. About a thousand of them will be permanent residents. 

The campus is also envisaged as a green area with a car-free inner area. For this purpose, Ülemiste City became the first in the world to start testing a public transport platform based on three self-driving buses which would solve the last-mile transport from the car parks planned to the outskirts of the campus. 

The four-storey Ülemiste Health Centre will be officially opened in the middle of September and will be providing everything that is required for health care – from family physicians who speak five languages to medical specialists, as well as start-ups which are dedicated to the future of medicine. A new education complex and a green building named after Alma Tomingas are also being developed.