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Industrial Parks in Latvia, leading the way in the Baltics
“Latvia has the most developed industrial parks in the Baltic States” states Elita Moiseja, Executive Director of “NP Properties” and board member of the Association of Latvian Technological Parks, Centres and Business Incubators.
There are around eighteen operating industrial parks in Latvia more than both the two other Baltic States put together (seven in Lithuania and six in Estonia). Even though size-wise Lithuania and Estonia are ahead with several mega-parks reaching 200 to 400 hectares, Latvia’s advantage lies in the fact that most of the industrial parks are brownfield sites. This allows new investors to establish themselves more quickly on the sites with an average setup time of three to four months. In Lithuania and Estonia greenfield parks are in the majority and as a result it takes significantly longer to get started.
“NP Properties is presently developing eight industrial park projects in various Latvian cities with a total area that exceeds 178 hectares” said Moiseja. Statistically two thirds of industrial park tenants in Latvia or three quarters in Estonia are local companies. Data for “NP Properties” shows that the share of local companies is rising, which reflects the growing demand for new industrial sites in Latvia and its continually increasing industrial production levels.
“The Real Estate Market Overview 2007 for The Baltic States and Belarus” by Colliers International (link name of report to highlights the most important characteristics of this sector. Plans set by developers indicate much interest in land located around Riga’s airport and the city’s sea port. These regions are expected to be the most active within the sector in the coming years. There are about ten industrial parks at various stages of development; however any projections as to future capacity are difficult to make since many projects are still in the planning stage.
As one of largest projects to date, Dominante Industrial park stands out due to its size as the largest industrial and logistics project in the Baltic region. Located just 20km from Riga, it is planned to expand to 81 000 sq.m. by 2011. By the time construction started, most of industrial/warehouse space of the 1st project stage delivering 35 000 sq.m. was pre-leased indicating that demand in this sector is far from being fulfilled.
For more information on Industrial Real Estate and other questions regarding real estate in Latvia please contact Kaspars Osis - kaspars.osis@liaa.gov.lv.
