Another tower will take its place in the former Block, further narrowing the spaces of this area with overloaded construction intensity.
The tower, which has been named “Grey Moon Tower”, is expected to be 18 stories high and have 4 floors of underground parking next to “Sulejman Delvina” street. It was commissioned by “Babasi Coo shpk”, owned by entrepreneur Ndriçim Babasi, and designed by “X Plan Studio” for housing and services.
In total, "Grey Moon" is expected to have around 10,500 m2 construction. This project exceeds the development previously foreseen by the Municipality of Tirana with the General Local Plan (GLP), which for the area envisaged construction up to 7 floors high.
To overcome this "obstacle", Babasi turned to the government, which enabled him "an exception to PPV" with the building permit approved on July 2, 2024. This maneuver to circumvent development regulations has been analyzed and described previously by Citizens.
In fact, in the former Block area, there are 12 other tower projects under development, which turned it into "exclusion from PPVs" in norm.
Babasi, a former member of parliament for the Democratic Party and former President of the Tirana Football Club, is known as an entrepreneur in the quarry sector, builder of palaces and residential complexes.
- Also Read: The exception became the norm, the towers in the former block break the criteria of the Urban Plan
He has obtained exploitation permits in several areas of Kruja and Shkodra while he is the main shareholder in the company "Vlora Stone", which exploits a stone extraction area in Vranisht.
In parallel, Babasi becomes a partner with the brothers Artan, Adrian and Genci Dulaku – through the company "Alba Beton" – in the construction of the "Gone Perivol" tourist complex in Dhërmi and Livadh of Himara.
His company – in collaboration with Sadik Lumi's Klajger Konstruksion – won two tenders worth 1.8 million euros in the demolition and cleaning of inert materials from buildings damaged by the 2019 earthquake in Krujë.
Babasi, along with former MP Tom Doshi, were the entrepreneurs who in 2015 purchased the land of the famous "Bar Rovena" bar, on which the controversial "Rainbow Center – Cube of Block" by the Invest Society of entrepreneurs Dajlan Avdia, Glendi Abdi and Edison Hatellari.
The construction of Babas Tower, “Grey Moon,” has begun. The site has been cordoned off and excavation has begun. The 18-story building is being erected on the site of a two-story decor store and a space that was once used as a parking lot.
- Read more: Tirana Vertical
The former Block extends over about 50 hectares of land. The urban plan of the Municipality of Tirana divides it into 30 structural units, including about 340 buildings. Among them, 20 have been designated as objects of special importance and 15 as "Cultural Monuments".
Of the 30 structural units, only 3 have Detailed Local Plans. The rest have undergone profound changes through interventions by the KKT, often in contradiction with the general idea of development envisaged by the PPV.
Urban development has brought unprecedented changes to the former Bllok, raising questions about the city's long-term vision and efforts to preserve Tirana's cultural and historical heritage.
He completed master's studies in Investigative Journalism at the Department of Journalism at the University of Tirana. She has been working as a journalist for five years, where she previously covered issues of politics and parliamentary activity, in print and online media. She is currently a journalist at Citizens.al, where she covers various social issues related to the transparency of institutions. At Citizens.al, she leads the podcast "The Unheard" and is engaged as a manager of projects related to the support of investigative journalism.
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