INTERNATIONAL TRADE : Kaufman Meeks Newport Office Wins Contract in Latvia

The Newport Beach office of Kaufman Meeks Architects Inc., a Houston-based architectural firm, said it has won a contract to design an embassy housing complex in Riga, Latvia.

The project, called Embassy Park, is being developed by a joint venture between the government of the Baltic nation and Polar-Bek International. Polar-Bek is a venture between Polar Construction Inc., a major Finnish construction company, and BE&K; Inc., a Birmingham, Ala., construction firm.

The proposed six-acre complex, will have four, four-story apartment buildings that will house several foreign embassy staffs in Latvia.

Each structure will contain 18, two- and three-bedroom apartments, with each apartment averaging 1,500 square feet. The developers and the Latvian government hope to lease the apartments to U.S. embassy staff and other foreign government representatives in the newly independent state.

Last month, the U.S. State Department rejected the initial location--1.5 miles from the U.S. embassy in Riga--because it was not near enough for embassy staff to walk to work. Polar-Bek and the Latvian government expect to propose a location nearer the U.S. Embassy before the end of the year, said Mark I. Kaufman, Kaufman Meeks’ president.

Kaufman said groundbreaking is scheduled for next spring.