All passers-by can now enjoy a display of old photographs, representing the Admiralty district, on the windows of the first completed building of the Porto Franco development. The textual part of the exhibition is based on the writings of Mati Õun, a maritime historian and the Honorary President of the Estonian Academic Military History Society.

The buildings of the Porto Franco development project will be located in an exciting district: for instance, in the late 19th-century industrial port facilities were neighboring with the Admiralty Basin, which was used to repair warships of the Russian Empire. When Estonia became an independent state, these facilities were taken into to produce the first armored vehicles in the country and to assemble railroad cars for armored trains.

The first building of Porto Franco, the most modern and only seaside commercial and leisure district, has now been completed and its windows facing Laeva street and the Admiralty Basin (at Laeva 1) display a retrospect of the past of the Admiralty Basin. Starting from 1 August the first building of Porto Franco will be opened as the Citibox Tallinn Hotel.

The Porto Franco development is built using environmentally friendly methods and in line with the LEED Gold standards: the project satisfies the highest requirements in terms of environmental sustainability, energy efficiency, the building process, and construction materials. The concept of the project entails the use of some state-of-the-art techniques reducing waste and pollution, including climate-resilient technologies that mitigate climate risks typical of the region, in particular the Baltic States.

Porto Franco is a unique property development project, which will open the Tallinn city center up to the sea, being the only commercial and leisure district at the seafront. A total of 190 million euros will be invested in the development of Porto Franco, and the new multifunctional city block will have over 150,000 m2 of premises. The Porto Franco complex consists of three underground floors with 1170-space parking garage and leased premises for retail purposes, and of five above-ground floors occupied by the shopping center, the office center and the hotel. The 150,000 m2 of commercial and office premises of Porto Franco will be hosting cafés and restaurants, a hotel, a hypermarket, and a large number of companies.