Index to build 900 homes in Norrtälje

They are siblings and childhood friends from Norrtälje, developing properties in Mälardalen and the United States. Now, the Index quartet will build 900 new apartments in their hometown.

Fredrik Alama, Marie-Louise Alamaa, Magnus Ekman and Pär Haglund look out over Norrtälje Harbour, a new district in the city that will get 1,800 new residences. About a third of the condominiums will be built by their company Index, including two 16-storey buildings that will replace the port’s high silos as new Norrtälje landmarks.

Index, which is headquartered in Stockholm, operates other housing projects in Norrtälje. The company recently broke ground on 300 new rental units that will be built behind the municipal building.

“There is a love for this city,” says Fredrik, who started Index in 1998. Today, he is an active owner in the property company and is constantly chasing new business.

If Fredrik is the entrepreneur and visionary, then his sister Marie-Louise – who is two years younger than he – is the money. She is the CFO and vice president of Index, and has been with the company for six years.

“Frederick persuaded me,” Marie-Louise says. “Previously, I worked in the pharmaceutical industry and in a law firm, among other jobs.”

The difference in the siblings’ surnames is easily explained. Frederick, who now lives in Switzerland, deleted the last letter to make it easier for others to spell it.

Four of Index’s 15 employees come from Norrtälje. Magnus and Pär were peers with Fredrik, and the trio attended school together.

“We hung out together,” Fredrik says. “Magnus and I also played hockey on the same team.”

Today, only Magnus still lives in their childhood city, a good fit since he is the project manager for Index’s construction in Norrtälje. Marie-Louise lives in Täby, which is close to Stockholm where Pär, who is head of marketing for Index, is based.

The company has about 3,000 apartments in its development portfolio. Their home market is located in the Mälardalen region. The group also has residential housing and an office in Florida in the United States because it’s home for Bjarne Borg, who founded Index along with Fredrik. The company has targeted Norrtälje for a long time.

“If there’s anything we know well, it’s the market in Norrtälje,” Fredrik says. The veteran has many years of experience in the industry, buying his first property at the age of 19 with his parents Kjell and Kerstin. It was NT’s old newspaper house on Hantverkaregatan, and it was just the beginning. Fredrik has worked as a real estate agent in Norrtälje and co-founded Centrumfastigheter, which owns several properties in the city centre and will build the first neighbourhood in Norrtälje Harbour.

The harbour area borders the first Index building in the same neighbourhood, Soltornet. Ninety apartments will fit into the 16-storey building that stands where the green silo used to. The demand for housing in this port area is huge, according to Magnus.

“More than 2,000 people have registered their interest,” he says. “We hope to start sales in the spring and start building in autumn 2016.”

Critics fear that the homes in the harbour will be extremely expensive, but Fredrik says they’re only partly right.

“A large top floor with views of the bay will be more expensive than the prices we see in Norrtälje today,” he says. “But there will be smaller apartments with only a glimpse of the water, and price variations will be large.”

He feels that the investment beats out all of the projects he has been involved in.

“To build in the city’s most attractive area is amazing,” Fredrik says. “I’ve checked out the area since I was young and played tennis in the park.”

At the same time, all four stress that the building behind the town hall is equally urgent.

“The economy is better for condominiums, but Norrtälje needs more rental units,” Magnus says.

The quartet who grew up in Norrtälje like the city’s development and are delighted to be a part of the journey. At the same time, they are taking notice of people’s expectations.

“For us it is very important to take responsibility and do something really great,” Fredrik says.

Picture and text, Norrtelje Tidning 151210