"We have a very clear goal of becoming a bank that offers innovative digital products and provides the highest level of customer service. To achieve this ambitious objective, we also searched for a new location to provide our employees with an inspiring environment that encourages cooperation as well as appropriate space for establishing a Citadele Bank division with a new concept providing our clients with even more opportunities to receive the necessary advice and learn about our latest products," says Vaidotas Gurskas, Head of Lithuanian Branch and Administration at Citadele Bank.
Citadele Bank is moving out of its headquarters in K. Kalinausko str. in Vilnius and will lease an area of 2200 sq. m. in Green Hall 1 occupying four floors of the building. The new office and bank division will have approximately 200 employees.
Bank division established on the ground floor of Green Hall 1 will be twice as large as the current one, occupying an area of 200 sq. m. This division will enable the bank's clients to learn about its latest digital products and receive consultations on various financial matters.
"Citadele Bank will be one of the largest tenants in the Green Hall business valley, and will organically blend into the central district of financial services and institutions formed on the right bank of the Neris river in Vilnius. Banks are our customers who place special demands on security, local reputation, etc., therefore, when a bank chooses the Green Hall business valley as its headquarters, we consider this to be a positive evaluation of our exclusivity and experience in these fields," says Tomas Astrauskas, CEO at Urban Inventors.
According to him, a long-term lease agreement has been signed with Citadele Bank. Through intense work on both sides, the transaction was finalised in a very short period of time – in less than two months. During the process, the parties received consultations from Ellex Valiunas law firm and mediation services from Newsec real estate consulting company.
"This project is particularly important for Citadele Bank, since the bank's relocation from its long-term headquarters in Kalinausko str. will not only essentially improve the office environment for its employees and declare the bank's ambition, but will also mark the bank's transition from its own building to a lease relationship. This choice was determined by Green Hall valley's unique architecture, visibility of the building, efficient layout and utilisation of office space, and the possibility to install a convenient customer service department on the ground floor," says Martynas Babilas, Newsec partner and Head of Tenant Representation Group in the Baltic region.
For a long time, Green Hall 1 business centre was used by Barclays Bank as its global operations division.
"Barclays moved its business out of Lithuania three months ago, and soon after the business centre was occupied by new tenants. Currently, the Green Hall 1 business centre building has only around 1 200 sq. meters of free space, which is 13 per cent of the entire area of the building. Intense negotiations are currently underway regarding this free area, and we have no doubt that it will be leased out in the near future," says Giedrius Muliuolis, Head of Commercial Unit at Urban Inventors.
The entire Green Hall business valley consists of a complex of three buildings. International capital markets company Moody‘s will establish its headquarters in the nearly complete Green Hall 3, where it will lease most of the area of the building. The remaining part is under negotiation. The entire Green Hall 2 business centre is currently leased out. Total investments of SBA Group in Green Hall valley exceed 40 million euros.
SBA Group is one of the largest business groups in Lithuania operating in the real estate, textile and furniture manufacturing sectors. Companies of the group have nearly 5000 employees. SBA owns the RE innovation company Urban Inventors developing Green Hall business valley in Vilnius and BLC business centre in Kaunas, as well as the investment management company Capitalica Asset Management managing "Kauno Dokas" business centre in Kaunas and "135" in Vilnius, and beginning the development of a modern office complex "Verde" in the Skanste neighbourhood of Riga, near the city centre. SBA furniture manufacturing sector consists of SBA Furniture Group which manages "Klaipėdos Baldai", "Šilutės Baldai", "Germanika", "Visagino Linija" and "Mebelain". The furniture production sector also includes the soft furniture manufacturer "Kauno Baldai". SBA textile sector is comprised of "Utenos Trikotažas" along with "Šatrija" and "Mrija" companies. Last year, SBA acquired Robotex – a company offering robotics solutions and established SBA Modular which plans to produce modular multi-storey buildings in Lithuania.
The Citadele Group is managed from Latvia with subsidiaries and branches in Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia. Citadele is the third-largest bank in Latvia by the number of clients. Citadele’s mission is to modernise the banking sector and offer more opportunities to clients and businesses throughout the Baltics. Our aim is to become the Baltic banking champion.
Alongside classic banking services, Citadele offers its clients a range of services based on next-generation financial technology, including its modern app, contactless payments and flash payments, and finally being the first in the Baltics to introduce opening an account with selfie-and payments to mobile numbers.
