Major tourism, retailer and construction firms are queuing up for property the Turkish State Railways (TCDD) will put out for sale to finance the high-speed train project. A public auction will be organized on Apr. 12, 2007 in Istanbul by the auction firm Eskidji for the sale of 204 pieces of property belonging to the TCDD. Several firms looking for large shares of land for their new investments have contacted Eskidji.
Among the 204 pieces of property in Turkey put out for sale, there is a port in Istanbul's Zeytinburnu and a plot adjacent to the BTC filling terminal.
An auction coordinator from Eskidji said was a well known fact that the TCDD owned very precious and very large plots. "Major firms are already signing up for the auction" he said.
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Auction of the year:
The TCDD has 3,000 properties in 58 provinces that it has deemed unnecessary. The total area of TCDD properties is over 50 million square meters and among the plots to be sold are the greenmarket area in Bostancı (1,793 square meters), three duplex apartments in Altunizade's Mesa Yeşil Vadi Konutları, two plots in Bakırköy and Yenimahalle (6,784 square meters and 27,835 square meters), three plots in Büyükçekmece and Hoşdere totaling 21,082 square meters and a hotel plot in İzmir's Alsancak, 1. Kordon of 4,848 square meters.
The fact that a majority of TCDD property in Turkey now lies in city centers draws the attention of major firms. The public auction of TCDD properties will not be an ordinary auction; it will be the auction of the year, according to Eskidji executives.
The money raised through the auction will be transferred to the high-speed train project, according adding to some experts. Same experts add that the government did not have any funds to allocate for the TCDD and only with these auctions, the TCDD will be able to create its own resources for its high-speed train project.
The first sales phase will consist of properties that are needed for the project. "The corporation has several large and precious Turkish property stocks. My personal belief is that they are able to finance three more high-speed train projects," an expert told Referans.
Like an endless well:
Eskidji CEO Dikran Masis said that the real estate portfolio of TCDD was like an endless well. "We will work on this project for two years. For the first phase, we will auction the Turkish property that has been inspected, evaluated and updated and our assessments will continue for other property and we will publicize the lists as soon as the updated values are determined," he said.
"The TCDD has many plots in cities, towns, city centers, smaller settlements, wherever the railroad passes. These plots are suitable for building business centers, shopping centers and hotels. The location of the plot will determine its value. If the location is open to tourism development, then the value becomes five-fold or ten-fold," he said.
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