Plans to demolish abandoned city hall in Hamina halted by protection proposal
A proposal to protect Hamina’s long-vacant city hall has stalled plans to build elderly housing on the site, threatening the entire project, reports Yle.
The Kymenlaakso wellbeing services county will abandon its plan to construct roughly 70 rental apartments for seniors in central Hamina unless demolition of the old city hall is approved by the end of March. The building has stood empty for about three years due to indoor air quality issues.
Kymen Tuki, the county’s support and property services company, intended to start construction next year for completion in 2028. The apartments would include private kitchens and bathrooms to enable independent living, with access to home care services.
Protection bid delays demolition
Built in the late 1940s, the former city hall received demolition permission in January 2025. However, the process was frozen after the Hamina Fortress Old Houses Association submitted a protection proposal to the Permit and Supervision Agency. The group aims to preserve the city’s historic buildings and urban landscape.
“This building represents post-war reconstruction architecture, a period when Finland was recovering,” said association chair Seepo Serola. The group has proposed a dry-preservation model to cut maintenance costs by over half.
The Kymenlaakso Museum previously recommended preserving the structure, but Hamina’s mayor Ilari Soosalu warned that keeping the empty building would cost the equivalent of two teachers’ annual salaries.
City fears losing central investment
Soosalu stressed that without the wellbeing county’s project, the site would remain a costly derelict property. “It’s not cheap to leave this as a vacant building—maintenance, securing, and guarding all add up,” he said, noting the city’s tight finances rule out renovation.
Negotiations to sell or lease the land to Kymen Tuki are underway, but delays in the protection review—potentially up to two years—could derail the housing plan. “It’s frustrating if this goes the wrong way,” Soosalu said.