The city of Oulu launches the Experience Arena Project
The city of Oulu launches the realization of the Experience Arena project as a public acquisition. The arena suitable for concerts, conferences, sport and other events is planned to be built in Raksila, on the plot of the previously demolished Courthouse and Police Station. On top of the Experience Arena, a Practice Ice Hall and parking area serving both buildings as well as the development of the surrounding area are part of the project. Additionally, the project includes residential construction rights elsewhere in the city.
The Oulu City Council decided in June 2023 that the city will pledge to become the owner of the future Experience Arena with a maximum sum of 50 million € and a 49,9 % right of ownership. The city is searching for a consortium to realize the arena planning and construction as well as to pledge to own and administer the Experience Arena with a minimum of 50,1 % share of ownership with public tendering.
In return for the Arena’s ownership, the consortium that wins the tendering will receive plots surrounding the Arena for other development and construction as well as some residential construction rights in different parts of the city. Mainly the plots will be distributed at market rates. For example, hotel, office or other commercial facilities could be constructed in the area around the Arena to support its implementation. On top of the Arena, the city’s goal is to build a Station Centre along the railway to replace the current Bus Station in the area between the demolished Courthouse and Police Station and the future Bus Terminal.
“The Experience Arena Project has been actively prepared for four years and now we are ready to start the official process to advance the Arena. The Arena and its surroundings will become a bustling, lively, interesting and high-quality meeting place and a centre of events, experiences and business”, Oulu City Board’s spokesperson Mirja Vehkaperä states.
The public acquisition process launched by the city will start during the fall together with the consortiums that come forward in the tendering with negotiations during which the details of the Experience Arena’s size and placement in the area will be determined. At the same time, the other possible projects in the surroundings of the Arena will be discussed. The competitive tendering between the consortiums will be held at the turn of the year 2024, and the city will decide the winner in about a year in the spring of 2025.
“Multiple consortiums have already expressed interest in the project and have contacted us during the past year. The city’s own commitment to the Experience Arena investment with the sum of 50 million € has been an important factor in this. Additionally, thanks to our experience in comparable projects, we know that the development of the surrounding area is an important part of the economic and functional equation”, Oulu’s Mayor Ari Alatossava explains.
The city requires that the consortiums will present in their offers detailed plans of the Arena’s size, appearance, location and business model that includes the city’s share of ownership in the Arena investment. For the surrounding area, the consortiums should present their plans for the buildings and services in the area along with their implementation schedules.
The city is striving to achieve a totality in the area that is interesting, sustainable, tempting, accessible and high-quality. The city sets the goals and preconditions for the area, within which the consortiums participating in the tendering can present their own plans for the services and buildings in the area. We will continue the planning of the area together with the winning consortium according to our City Strategy, in close cooperation with the businesses. Ultimately, the city will make the final decision of the area plan and the totality emerging from it”, Planning Director Kari Nykänen states.
For the Station Centre, the consortium can examine the plan draft’s reference plan (so called “tar barrels”) and apply the solutions in such a way that the character and interior of the building are recognizable in the cityscape. Architectural modeling, size and extent can be examined in the planned solution in a purposeful way.
The Arena process will last five years in the best-case scenario. In about a year, we will know which consortium wins the tendering and implements the Arena and surrounding area. The project’s development phase, planning and design, will take approximately two years and the construction will last for another two years.
City-owned companies Oulun Sivakka Oy and Oulun Pysäköinti Oy are designing a new Bus Terminal, waiting area, car park and rental apartments on the place of the current Bus Station. The plans of the companies support the neighboring Arena project’s implementation since construction and services in the area will need a lot of parking space.
“Our goal is that thanks to the investments in the Bus Terminal and the city’s commitment of 50 million € will inspire the rest of the railroad area to be developed on market terms. We have created good prerequisites for this with the model developed for the Experience Arena Project. This will start a close cooperation of five years with a large group of operators”, the Project Director in charge of the Experience Arena Project Karri Oikarinen states.