Aupark Tower

Aupark Tower is a high-rise building in Bratislava located in the district of Petržalka which is a part of the shopping center Aupark. It has been built by HB Reavis Group company in 2007. In 2012 Heitman European Property Partners IV became the owners of the building for €85.6m [1]. Currently office space at Aupark Tower is occupied by Telefónica O2 Slovakia, Eset, Procter & Gamble and AT&T.

History

The construction began in 2006, the framework was completed in the beginning of 2007 and it was completely finished at the end of 2007.

The building was approved by then mayor of Petržalka Vladimír Bajan, but the mayor of Bratislava Andrej Ďurkovský is also commonly blamed, indirectly also together with the Bratislava main architect Štefan Šlachta.^[1]

It has staged shape and height of 96 meters, 22 floors and there were proposals to reduce it to 15 floors in order to allegedly save the panorama of Bratislava. The HB Reavis Group company was offered to buy some lucrative ground on the Petržalka Danube-riverbank between the Old Bridge and the Apollo Bridge for favorable cost. This solution was not realized, however, as it was decided that it would have been unprofitable for the city.

Controversy

Aupark Tower destroyed a great number of Bratislava silhouettes. Due to its height and location, many pictures in the historical Old Town cannot be taken without including this structure. The opponents of this building argued also by the immediate vicinity of the New bridge and by the building optically devaluing the Aupark (Sad Janka Kráľa) locality.