The Falun market
What makes Falun an attractive city for Diös?
“The centre of Falun has a wonderful mix of stores, water, green areas, housing and big employers. We are seeing positive inward migration and all property owners have a shared ambition to increase density in the centre of town through housing. Together, we are aiming to double the number of apartments in five years!”
What makes Falun an attractive locality for businesses and retailers?
“Falun has a lively central shopping district, a thriving cultural scene and well-known visitor attractions that draw people from across the whole of Sweden. Both we and the local authority are working hard to develop the city centre, and we are well aware that we need to stay on our toes and respond to the changes that are taking place in e-commerce to keep the brick-and-mortar stores alive. It is also a concentrated city where everything is nearby.”
How are you collaborating with other players in the locality?
We have close and good relationships with several different players in the locality that are active, want to push the agenda forward and have the same goals as us. We have, for example, partnered with Falu P, a joint parking company for the local authority and private companies, to ensure good access and easy parking. Centrala Stadsrum, which is working to develop the city centre, is another important forum for us.
What were Diös’ focus areas in Falun in 2019?
“A lot of things happened in 2019. We completed the redevelopment of Bergströms Galleria that has been going on for several years.
We developed our G:a Bergsskolan property by welcoming several new tenants, including Everytime Fitness and Pressbyrån, and by creating a waiting room for public transport. We also redeveloped Åhléns’ premises and welcomed Restaurangskolan in the former premises of the Etage nightclub. Restaurangskolan was previously outside the city but now has premises in the centre of town with their own skyview. We also acquired a large, central property with several attractive tenants, extended our contract with the County Administrative Board of Dalarna and renovated their premises, developed two new cinema auditoria for Svenska Bio, and the owners of our new apartments in the Falan 20 residential building have moved in!”
What will you be doing in 2020 and going forward?
“We will, for example, be developing a new office concept in Holmen 8. We have received enquiries from several attractive office tenants that we hope to sign contracts with. The complete renovation of the town hall will go on until the end of the year – this is a joint project with the Falun Local Authority. We are also planning to increase density further by creating new centrally located apartments.”