Defence agency sells Seli manor complex for 380,000 euros

Estonia’s State Defence Investment Centre has sold the Seli manor complex in Rapla County for 380,000 euros, the auction’s starting price, ERR reported. The buyer plans to preserve the historic ensemble and find a suitable use for it.

The buyer, Eksfisk, is owned by Maria Peetri. She told ERR that the project would be a long-term development, beginning with an assessment of the buildings’ condition and work needed to preserve them.

Peetri said the company hopes eventually to put the complex back into active use while preserving it. The plans still require design work, planning review and approvals, she said. The auction has ended, but the sale has not yet been completed before a notary.

The defence investment centre took over the property in 2019, when the Seli health centre ceased operating as an independent institution and was incorporated into the Defence Forces. After the health centre moved to Raadi in Tartu, the complex was no longer needed and was put up for sale, the centre’s media relations expert Andra Nõlvak told ERR.

The complex includes a main building and several outbuildings, including a servants’ house and a hydrotherapy building. The first records of Seli Manor date to 1474. Its earliest buildings were made of wood and have not survived. The first limestone structures were built in the mid-to-late 18th century; surviving examples include the manor house, steward’s house and horse stable.

Eksfisk, which trades in fish products at retail and wholesale, reported a profit of 330,000 euros last year, compared with nearly 280,000 euros the year before. Its latest annual report showed more than one million euros in retained earnings.