Shopping mall, residence planned at green area near lake in Istanbul

Elif İnce ISTANBUL - Radikal

The green area is located on the eastern coast of Küçükçekmece Lake near a first degree natural site, the Soğuksu Grove, and is currently used as a football pitch and park.

A shopping mall and residence complex is set to be built on a green area located east of the Küçükçekmece Lake, outside Istanbul. The green area is located on the eastern coast of Küçükçekmece Lake near a first degree natural site, the Soğuksu Grove, and is currently used as a football pitch and park.

The residence and shopping mall project, titled as “Heaven Grove,” is owned by the Keleşoğlu and Eba Construction companies, which plan to build luxurious apartments. The price of some of the planned apartments is 1.1 million Turkish Liras even before construction has started.

The Küçükçekmece Municipality also plans to build an “adventure park” inside the Soğuksu Grove.
Küçükçekmece Mayor Temel Karadeniz said there would be restaurants, a sightseeing train, a small motocross area and an artificial pond in the Soğuksu Grove as part of the plans. The area has been opened to construction by the “protection plan” for the Soğuksu 1st and 3rd degree natural site area, which was prepared by the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality last year.

Sami Yılmaztürk, the Istanbul branch head of the Agriculture Chamber within the Turkish Chamber of Architects and Engineers’ (TMMOB), described the project as a “crime against the city.”

“They have planned a construction plan for the natural site area which is even more dense than other residential areas in the neighborhood. This is against the principle of protection,” Yılmaztürk said.