The author of the project is the ARD company, headed by the famous architect Georgi Telpiz. In an interview with Logos Press, he noted that this object could become a “visiting card” of the capital from both architectural and engineering points of view.
“The complex will appear on one of the busy sections of the city center, at the intersection of three traffic arteries – Negruzzi Boulevard, Gagarin Boulevard and Kantemir Street, creating an important urban accent. It will harmonize with the urban environment and will be visible from everywhere. I have studied the specifics of high-rise buildings in different capitals of the world, and I am sure that Chisinau has long lacked such a modern structure, reflecting the spirit of the time”.
According to the project, the building will have an area of 75 thousand m2, with an observation deck on the top floor. It will house an office center, apart-hotel, numerous restaurants. In the lower part of the complex will open a commercial center with an area of 35 thousand m2. A three-level parking lot with 700 parking spaces is also planned.
As noted by the owner of Manolii, well-known businessman Mircea Bacu, both existing facilities – Grand Hall and Baby Hall – will be dismantled. “Commercial centers of this type are outdated and do not beautify the city. Connecting two shopping centers with one gallery is also an outdated technology. That’s why we decided to use this site for an innovative project that will be built from scratch. We own more than 1 hectare of land here, and this site is one of the best in the city. The neighborhood with the railroad station will provide additional traffic: sooner or later the railroad will come to life, and we will receive tourist traffic from Iasi, Bucharest, Kiev, Odessa. We hope that Chisinau with its chaotic point development, with old stores, lack of parking lots, is becoming a thing of the past. Therefore, we count on the support of the authorities, as this object can become not only a landmark of the capital, but also of the whole country”.
Taking into account that high-level buildings involve more complex construction technology, “Grand Tower” will require about 100 million euros of investment. Manolii intends to attract foreign investors who are ready to invest in such a large-scale business. Now the customer is waiting for the final approval of the project to start negotiations with foreign partners.
It was noted that foreign contractors will be invited to build “Grand Tower”. The customer has already held preliminary negotiations with two firms – from Turkey and Shanghai, which specialize in turnkey construction of high-rise buildings.
According to Gheorghe Telpiz, there are no restrictions on the height of buildings in Chisinau. Multi-level objects have not been built here because of seismological problems and expensive technologies. Therefore, the highest building in the capital is still the shopping center “Atrium”, which is 86 meters high.
He emphasized that seismology has not been a problem in the world for a long time. Especially in such an area as ours. For example, “Sky Tower” – the tallest building in Bucharest (37 floors, 137 meters high) – was built back in 2012. We had only one attempt to build two 30-storey towers in the Riscanova district, but it was never completed.
“I specially went to different megacities of the world, including Hong Kong, Tokyo, Frankfurt, where I studied the specifics of high-rise construction,” said Mr. Telpiz. – Any construction can be calculated, that’s why the Japanese build houses even in the sea. The main factor is capital-intensive construction with the use of special materials: there concrete is twice as stiff and a different grade of steel. We have taken all these factors into account and plan to deliver the project by 2030.
