Scandic signed an agreement to establish a new hotel in the city center of Kiruna, the northernmost town in Sweden.
The hotel property will be owned by Swedish mining company LKAB and built by Skanska. With 230 rooms, a restaurant and Kiruna’s first sky bar, the property is expected to be the largest in the town, and will be completed by the end of 2021.
"We are extremely happy to be involved in founding and developing Kiruna’s new city center," Peter Jangbratt, managing director, Scandic Hotels Sweden, said in a statement.
Kiruna is developing a new city center about three kilometers from the existing downtown area. The new space is needed due to the mining of iron ore (the economic hub for the city) that would jeopardize the future growth of the existing city center.
Scandic has had an ongoing dialogue with the construction group Skanska for several years, leading to the agreement to build a new hotel in district 10 of Kiruna’s new city center. When the new hotel is finished at the end of 2021, it will replace Scandic’s existing operations in what is now Scandic Ferrum.
The new hotel will have 230 guestrooms as well as conference and meeting facilities, a restaurant and a sky bar and gym on the top floor.
"We are proud to be involved in establishing a new hotel in downtown Kiruna," said Stefan Hämäläinen, SVP of urban transformation, LKAB. "The project confirms LKAB’s commitment to the future and to addressing changes resulting from our mining operations. We’re also happy that Skanska has decided to establish itself here and that Scandic both shares our belief in the future and has chosen to expand."