"YIT Lietuva" for 23 million Eur will build "Urban HUB" in Vilnius
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The ambitious House of Basketball project is steadily becoming a reality. The project, which was presented to the community in March at the Town Hall in Kaunas, is a joint effort of the Lithuanian Basketball Federation and Kaunas municipality. Recently, the ceremonial burying of a time capsule in Santaka Street in the centre of Kaunas heralded the start of construction of this multifunctional building.
During the celebratory ceremony the capsule, symbolizing the beginning of the construction, was buried by the mayor of Kaunas Visvaldas Matijošaitis, the president of the Lithuanian Basketball Federation Arvydas Sabonis, architect Gintautas Natkevičius and YIT Kausta’s CEO Kęstutis Vanagas.
“This is a truly unique project, one that has never before been seen in Lithuania. This innovative building, at the heart of the oldest part of the city, will contain a museum with basketball trophies, a 5D cinema, an interactive hall, a hall of fame and a cafe with an outdoor terrace. LBF (orig. LKF) will set up headquarters in the building too. This will be a modern complex, which will serve the citizens of the city and the whole country. Aside from this, we aim for the House of Basketball to become a tourist attraction. I hope that the construction, which has already begun so smoothly, will result into a beautiful gift to Kaunas to celebrate the centenary of state restoration,” said K. Vanagas, Head of YIT Kausta.
The mayor of Kaunas, Visvaldas Matijošaitis, stated: “Kaunas is a city that breathes basketball. We never doubted where the House of Basketball was to be build. I am certain that this will be the most interesting museum in Lithuania. It will be a museum all Lithuanians will want to visit”.
The president of the Lithuanian Basketball Federation, Arvydas Sabonis, welcomed the start of the construction works and said that there wasn’t a better time for this building to be erected.
“It is a pleasure that all the talks and ideas are turning into a real physical construction now. We hope that everything will continue to go well and we will be able to present the community with not just beautiful visualisations, but also to the wide open doors of the House of Basketball so that we can invite them inside,” said LBF’s Sabonis.
Architect Gintautas Natkevičius prepared the model of the construction and has since donated it to Kaunas municipality.
After the foundation of the building is completed, Kaunas Municipality will hand over the House of Basketball building site to the Lithuanian Basketball Federation. From then on construction will be financed by the Lithuanian Basketball Federation, with the help of several partners and sponsors.
YIT Kausta will finish with the foundations of the House of Basketball by the end of this year, and the opening is scheduled to take place in the second half of next year.
