Simetria Park – harmony inside and out, and a new concept for the Tbilisi real estate market

Located just eight minutes from the heart of Tbilisi’s iconic Freedom Square and towering above the Georgian capital in the quiet suburb of Okrokana in the Mtatsminda district, development company Simetria is building a residential project the likes of which Georgia has yet to see – Simetria Park.

When completed, $14 million dollars will have gone into the project, which is located on 20,000 square meters of land and comprises 39 apartments and 31 individual townhouses, occupying an ideal plot of real estate near the Tbilisi Funicular, Mtatsminda Park, and the Botanical Gardens with foot paths to Turtle Lake.

Simetria Park is a city within a city, a neighborhood unto itself, with all the necessary infrastructure and services for city living, while affording residents the calm and serenity of life in nature. The complex will include a gym, spa, garden services, a playground, bike paths, a co-working space, and recreation and commercial areas.

Investor.ge sat down with Simetria CEO Tariel Gabunia to talk more about Simetria Park, how the project is unique in Georgia, and in what way it offers a new take on city living and community building.

What was the inspiration for this project?

In recent years, Tbilisi has become more a place for cars and vehicles than for people. The infrastructure caters to machines, not individuals. That’s why our principle inspiration for this project – and it’s the first thing we mention when we talk about Simetria Park – is the concept and importance of ‘harmony inside and out.’

Home is a place where you should be able to find harmony with everything else going on in your life – the people around you, the city, your surroundings, your ideas and emotions, your business, and your future.

Simetria Park is just that sort of place: a closed residential area adapted to the requirements of the city, where you can both interact with your surroundings, but also find shelter from hectic urban life.

However, the harmony of your home doesn’t end within your walls – it continues into the space that surrounds the home. This concept of the home as the location where all of these things come together, the prism through which you approach all other aspects of your life, was at the very heart of Simetria Park.

Envisioning the desires and aspirations of a modern professional was our guiding tenet as we designed the project. Some of the other important pillars include an individual’s link to their environment, the desire to share, and to both retain privacy and be part of a community simultaneously.

You note the importance of one’s surroundings and its connection to quality living. In what way did such considerations go into the development of the project?

Home buyers these days pay attention not only to financial factors, but to the quality of construction and the infrastructure, the reputation of a developer, and the availability of various services within the complex and the surrounding area as well.

In addition to the developers and architects, we have brought in landscape designers and dendrologists to weigh in on the development of the project.

Even minor details such as courtyard plants and trees have been thoroughly thought out to green up the area. The seasons were also taken into account, with the surrounding greenery changing according to a well thought-out plan to keep the area fresh and alive and incorporated into the diversity of the flower and fauna, the fresh air of the Kojori forest, and the balanced climate.

We have also paid great attention to the environment in the sense of how well, how seamlessly, the residential area blends into its surroundings. As a result, Simetria Park achieves both isolation and inter-connectivity.

In what way does Simetria Park offer something new to the Georgian development market?

The development of Simetria Park has been in the making for years. The idea was born long ago, but surveys of the development sector and real estate market revealed that customers still needed time to become accustomed to the idea of this new living experience.

Simetria Park is not a series of individual homes and cottages, sprawled out and out of sync with one another. Instead, it represents an adaptation to a global trend, and more closely resembles European or North American townhouses which have become very popular in recent times, and are beginning to take off in Georgia as well. This is partly because many people would like to have their own house, but they do not have the time to design it themselves – that’s just more stress. That’s why these townhouses are so popular.

Moreover, the history of Georgian housing is rich and diverse, representing a blend of various cultural and historic influences. The Soviet period was the most unnatural one, dramatically changing the urban matrix and introducing residential buildings, blocks of houses, and micro-districts.

Evidence for the fact that the Soviet approach was ‘unnatural’ is the fast pace of change within the urban matrix in Georgia since the collapse of the Soviet Union. The city seems to be in a painful process of self-determination and transformation, which is now resulting in housing being adapted to the needs of modern inhabitants.

This is what Simetria Park is about. The well-planned set of townhouses offer enough space and opportunity to have both the benefits of socialization, neighborhood, and community, but also preserves the intimacy and individual approach of each house.

We believe the timing of the introduction of Simetria Park onto the Georgian real estate market is perfect. While the idea itself may not be unique, the moment is – our city and customers are now ready for it .