Värtahamnen, the Royal Seaport of Stockholm, sits in a prime spot and the location is undeniably beautiful. But there’s not much else to boast about. Yet.

“The City of Stockholm has had various plans for developing the area since the 1990s, but for the most part things never got off the ground,” says Tomas Hermansson, CEO for Bonnier Fastigheter. “When the City´s renewed development plans were presented in 2015-2016, we saw an opportunity: It is a great area ripe for urban development and it works well with our own growth plans.”

What Bonnier Fastigheter is developing together with the City of Stockholm and other major developers is a whole new district that serves as an entry point into the city. Värtahamnen already sees some 6-7 million cruise line passengers every year. But under the project with Bonnier Fastigheter in the lead, visitors soon will be greeted by a combination of retail, service, housing and offices – a brand new sustainable mixed-use district for a modern and expanding Stockholm.

“We have a big responsibility to build a sustainable and attractive city neighborhood over the long term,” says Hermansson. “This means following not just our own core values, but Bonnier’s core values and even those of Stockholm City. What’s unique about us as property developers is that we’re not speculators, rather we are long-term property owners and managers. We think over the long haul. We build to own.”

The new Värtahamnen is expected to offer 2,400 new apartments and workplaces for 10,000. Bonnier Fastigheter’s projects in the area include some 71,000 rentable square meters of space divided among three anchor buildings – a stunning high-rise tower with a lower section built out into the water, a mixed-use retail and office building, and a central marketplace next to a new tram station and offices above. Both the tower and mixed-use buildings are planned to receive the highest sustainable certifications from the Green Building Council.

“The initial concept work for our properties in Värtahamnen started with a survey around Stockholm and Bonnier as a brand,” says

Hermansson. “We looked at the city’s public spaces and what they contain that can be further developed in and around our new properties. We had Bonnier’s cultural legacy and values in mind, and they became a natural part of the work. How we meet Stockholm and how our properties interact with people determine how Stockholm meets us.”