Vantaa’s big arena is progressing quickly – Garden Helsinh boss Jan Vapaavuori: we are not worried

Construction work on Arena 3.3 will reportedly start this year and be completed by the end of 2028. When completed, the arena will be the third largest in the Nordic countries.

At the same time, other large-scale arena projects are also underway in the capital region. The most advanced of them is Garden Helsinki, which in May told about the latest twists and turns in its planning phase.

At that time, there was still no certainty about the progress of the Vantaan project. There is already speculation behind the scenes that the realization of Arena 3.3 could in some way affect the plans of the background forces of Garden Helsinki’s project company (Projekti GH Oy).

Chairman of the board of the project company Jan Vapaavuori however, denies this.

“The Vantaan arena project does not affect our project in any way,” says Vapaavuori.

“We strongly believe that there is a demand, especially for multi-purpose arenas built according to the principles of sustainable development in the center of the capital, in connection with good light traffic and public transport connections and services.”

In May Garden Helsinki announced the modification of its construction plan. It means that hotels, offices and apartments left Garden Helsinki’s plan.

Now Töölö is to be built as a multipurpose arena for about 20,000 people. Its costs are estimated to be more than 400 million euros – about half as much as the Vantaan project.

Advertised as privately financed, the Garden has been prepared since 2008. Previously, the cost estimate for the overall plan was 700–800 million euros, but the costs are reduced by the project’s redesign and the fact that the arena is now supposed to rise partially above the ground.

Vapaavuori has admitted that the realization of Garden Helsinki depends on the success of private financing.

According to the editorial information, Projekti GH Oy is also trying to get the city of Helsinki as a financier.

“After the concept change published in May, we have focused on making new plans in close cooperation with the City of Helsinki and continued negotiations with financiers,” says Vapaavuori now.