REPUBLISHED

From “Dada” to “City Hotel”, the towers transforming the former Blloku

Erblin Vukaj · Originally published: 29 October 2024

The City Hotel project

“City Hotel” is one of the high-rises being developed on the sites of villas in the former Blloku neighbourhood.

The project, conceived by Marco Casamonti and Kleant Bibolli, envisages a 12-storey “multifunctional building” on Brigada e VIII Street, next to another building designed by Casamonti’s studio, Archea: Brigada VIII.

The structure has taken the place of a single-storey villa with a garden that stood there until 2020, known for the nightclub “Dada” that operated in it.

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The developers and their other projects

The high-rise is being developed by entrepreneurs Agim Zeqo and brothers Kujtim and Ilir Shtufi through Nova Group (Nova Construction 2012).

Zeqo, a well-known wholesaler of drinks, tobacco and food products, has long since expanded his investments into sectors such as tourism, renewable energy and construction.

The Shtufi brothers, whose main businesses are construction and energy, are also partners with Zeqo in the “Green House Korça Resort” project, which, as a strategic investment, received 10,000 square metres of public land.

Nova Group has the largest portfolio of towers in the capital, with projects such as:

• Mount Tirana – a tower of around 60 storeys by CEBRA in central Tirana, under construction.
• Bond Tower – a tower of around 50 storeys by OODA on Dritan Hoxha Street, awaiting a permit.
• Hora Vertikale – two towers of 30–40 storeys by OODA at the former Dajti complex on Muhamet Gjollesha Street, with a permit approved.
• Tirana Garden Building – a massive building with two towers of 16–24 storeys by Archea at the former Museum of Natural Sciences on Kavaja Street, construction completed.

Three years after the first permit, the City Hotel project was amended to gain an additional floor, specified in the government’s July 2022 decision as “12 storeys + ATIK”, from “attic”: a room or apartment above the top floor, a “penthouse”.

The history of the area being built on

The area, now known as the former Blloku, was developed mainly between 1925 and 1943 under the influence of Italian architecture.

More than 30 villas and two- to three-storey residential blocks were built during this period, following an urban planning concept of plots with courtyards and gardens that gave the city a new neighbourhood in a modern style.

Families of Italian officers initially settled there, followed by employees, officials and entrepreneurs of the monarchy period.

During the dictatorship, the villas were confiscated and the area was designated as a block housing the political leadership.

Several 5-storey apartment buildings were added. After the 1990s, and particularly over the past decade, poorly planned development transformed the villas and green spaces into complexes of multistorey apartment buildings.

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*Amended following a clarification, from “Studio Nova Group” to “Nova Group”.