Bruce Oreck has taken things to a new level over a recent property deal that went sour with Finland's state-owned railway company VR. The former US ambassador, who served from 2009 until 2015 before deciding to stay in Finland, now says that he is planning to bring VR to court in order to recoup one million euros he spent in preparation for the deal.
Oreck had hoped to purchase the Vallila district's vacant train shed complex in order to create a new Helsinki hotspot called the "Train Factory", which would feature offices, shops and restaurants.
In late March, VR suddenly asked a higher price and found another potential buyer, putting an end to Oreck's plans.
On Friday, April 27 he said he would be bringing VR to court over the incident.
"Unfortunately, the path forward seems clear. For me, I will have to proceed against VR in an effort to recover the nearly 1,000,000€ I have invested in time, costs and expenses doing due diligence and developing The Train Factory plans since VR agreed to sell to me the property at the price they had set," he wrote on Facebook.
VR is keeping its public comments on the deal to a minimum.
"The process is on-going, and we have nothing new to say about it. We will not speculate about what all will come of this in any way," the VR communications director Tatu Tuominen said on Friday.
