Orbi Sea Towers in Batumi

Orbi Sea Towers is a group of three residential towers by the developer Orbi Group at 15a Sherif Khimshiashvili Street, where the New Boulevard begins. The complex was completed in 2015. The central tower rises to 34 floors, and the two side towers, east and west, to 25. Below them is a shared podium with the lobby, parking and a pool area. In the ten years since completion, neighbouring towers have gone up around it, some of them taller and newer.

Orbi Sea Towers: what kind of complex it is

The building was designed as residential, but people use it in different ways. Some owners come for the summer, some let their apartments long term, and many let them to guests by the night. So in summer the lobby and lifts are busy, while in winter the towers are quiet and many windows are dark. For a buyer this means that the neighbours and the order in the building depend on the season, and the complex rules matter more than in an ordinary block of flats.

The apartments were sold in black frame, with no screed, plaster or wiring. Over the years most of them have been renovated by their owners, and the standard varies a lot: from neat apartments made for letting to quick renovations that have to be redone after a couple of seasons.

Location: Khimshiashvili and the New Boulevard

The towers stand in the Khimshiashvili Street area, where high-rise complexes follow one another. The promenade and the beach of the New Boulevard are a few minutes' walk away, with cafés, shops and bus stops nearby. The Old Town and the city centre are too far for a walk, and people usually take a taxi or a bus. Not every apartment has a sea view: a lot depends on the tower, the side and the floor, and building sites nearby close part of the views over time.

How to choose an apartment in this complex

Apartments in the three towers differ, so we look at each one separately. We check which tower it is in and which way the windows face, what is being built opposite, how the lifts cope in high season and where the outdoor air conditioning units sit. If the apartment is already renovated, we open up the wet areas and look at the fuse box: fresh tiles sometimes hide old pipes and weak wiring.

A separate question is the legal use of the apartment. The extract from the Public Registry should show that it is a residential unit, its area and its owner. We find out about any debts to the management company and the letting rules before the deposit. How such a check works is described on the page about the property document check.

Renovation and letting in Orbi Sea Towers

Renovation here follows the building rules: noisy work only in the permitted hours, materials up the service lift, and we remove the waste ourselves. How we agree such work with the management company is described on the page about apartment renovation in residential complexes. If the apartment is still in black frame, the work goes in the same order as in any new build: rough work, building services, then finishing.

For letting, the renovation and furniture are only part of the job. What matters is how the apartment runs without its owner: who meets the guests, who cleans, who handles complaints from neighbours. We take these tasks on under an apartment management agreement. Income from daily letting changes by season and from year to year, so we estimate it from the real occupancy of similar apartments, not from advertising promises.