Torunlar wins bid for Tekel’s facility

ANKARA - Hürriyet Daily News

Torunlar offered the winning 355 million Turkish Lira bid for Tekel’s alcohol factory located in Istanbul’s Paşabahçe district. Torunlar will hold the land for 49 years. Hürriyet photo

Torunlar Gayrimenkul, a local real estate investment trust, has won the tender for the land where Tekel’s alcohol factory is located in the Paşabahçe Beykoz district of Istanbul yesterday. 

Torunlar submitted the highest bid with 355 million Turkish Liras and won the tender after 72 rounds of open auction yesterday. Torunlar will have possession of the land for 49 years. 

The Beykoz land of the country’s former state-owned alcohol and tobacco monopoly, Tekel, mainly includes three plots of 54,870; 16,212; and 827 square meters of area and Tekel’s facilities on them. It also includes a 3,935 square meter landfill and pier area. 

“We wanted to acquire a place which is a ‘pearl’ of Istanbul,” said Mehmet Torun, the chairman of the company, according to Anatolia news agency. 

They might use the land for an investment project in the tourism industry, he said. “It may be a hotel project.”

He wouldn’t give a figure for the potential amount of the investment, but said it could be as much as the bidding figure.

The first tender was conducted in June 2009, and was won by a real estate company unknown in business circles, As-Asya, with about 303 million liras, according to hurriyet.com.tr. The company failed to fulfill the conditions of the sale.