Istanbul municipality boosts income with property sales

Real-estate sales implemented by the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality, or IBB, over the past five years have brought in a head-turning amount of revenue.

Led by Mayor Kadir Topbaş, the municipality has filled its coffers with 880 million Turkish Liras obtained from property sales carried out throughout the city.

The IBB is also expecting to cash in on the sales of the Swiss Hotel, Hyatt Regency, Istanbul University’s Çapa Faculty of Medicine and the Sultanahmet Judiciary building, for an expected total of $5 billion within the next two years.

Within the last five years, the IBB has called for the tender of 971 real-estate assets, obtaining a total income of 879.8 million liras from the sale of 419,173 square meters of land.

The Topbaş administration recently obtained a sales authorization from the Turkish Parliament for Istanbul Seabuses and Fast Ferries Inc., or İDO, and the Istanbul-based natural-gas distribution company İGDAŞ. A tender is expected to be held for those properties within the next two years as well. The Rothchilds Group, a European dynasty of German-Jewish origin that established European banking and finance houses starting in the late 1700s, has already applied to purchase İGDAŞ.

One of the most attractive properties is the one on which the Directorate of Bosphorus Housing was built. The property, which covers 100,000 square meters on the Maslak-Sarıyer line, has been found to be especially valuable due to its sea view.

The Sultanahmet Judiciary building, which was handed over to the IBB after a protocol was signed with the Ministry of Justice, has been deemed another revenue source for the municipality. In exchange for the property, the ministry was promised a new Court of Justice building in Istanbul’s Çağlayan district. The current property will be sold with the aim of turning it into a tourism center.

Sources also said the Çapa Faculty of Medicine will be moved to a large health complex being built on 1.5 million square meters of land in the Başakşehir district of Istanbul. A tourism and convention center is planned for the faculty’s current home.

The IBB’s plan also includes the sale of the property known as the Bayrampaşa prison, which has inspired a number of movies and songs and been the subject of several news stories. A license for commercial construction purposes will be obtained for the land, which will then be sold.

Hyatt Regency had already rented the land owned by the IBB for its new hotel, but rumors about plans to sell the property have now surfaced.

The IBB is also planning to sell the property it has rented out to the Swiss Hotel, which was managed by Hüsmü Özyeğin, chairman of Fiba Holding. A 30,000-square-meter property in Yedikule, with a view of the Marmara Sea, is also reportedly on the municipality’s “for sale” list.