Mixed-use development in Tbilisi: buying a flat in a building with shops, offices or a hotel

What does mixed-use mean in Georgian planning law?

In a brochure, mixed-use means flats with shops, offices or a hotel in the same tower. The law uses a narrower term. Tbilisi's Rules on the use and development of territories (City Council Resolution No 14-39 of 24 May 2016, Art. 4) define a multifunctional building as "a building with two or more functions where no main function exceeds 75% of the building's total area". Government Resolution No 261 of 3 June 2019, which applies where a city has no rules of its own, uses the same 75% test on usable area in its original text. So, on our reading, a block that is 80% flats with shops below is in law a multi-apartment house with commercial units.

About the texts: the current consolidated versions of the Tbilisi Rules and of Resolution No 261 are behind the paid wall of Matsne, the official legal database. We read the original texts and the free amending acts in our sources, and we say where a rule comes from the original only. A lawyer or the city should confirm the zone and the rule in force for any given plot.

Which Tbilisi zones allow flats next to shops, restaurants and hotels?

Annex 1 of the Rules splits uses into basic ones, allowed as of right, and exceptional ones, which need a special zonal agreement.

K-2 is total floor area divided by plot area. The 2025 and 2026 amendments we read left the residential rows unchanged, but we could not read every amendment from 2016 to 2024.

How can a tower in a business zone end up 95% flats?

In the public-business sub-zones, public functions must dominate. Resolution No 58-63 of 25 July 2025, in force since 29 July 2025, allows housing there up to 25% of a building's area, or up to 95% under a special zonal agreement; the ceiling had been 90% since November 2022. The agreement is an exception granted plot by plot: under Art. 22 (original text), the applicant submits an urban-planning study and the Mayor of Tbilisi decides.

Extra housing has a price. Under Art. 16-1, as worded in February 2022, housing above the permitted share is compensated to the city before the construction permit is issued, either with flats in the project in white frame or with their market price as set by the Levan Samkharauli National Forensics Bureau. So a tower sold as a business landmark may be almost entirely flats. If the developer hands over flats, the city owns some and, on our reading, sits in the owners' association; a lawyer should confirm.

Can the promised offices or hotel become something else?

Yes. Art. 16-4, added in July 2024, lets a project in a residential zone that exceeded K-2 before the 2019 General Land Use Plan in order to build a multifunctional building switch to multi-apartment housing, against a payment to the city equal to the white-frame value of flats making up 4% of the extra residential area.

A single unit can change too. Under the Law on Public Registry (Art. 15-6(7)), a unit's purpose is changed on its construction, commissioning or legalisation documents or, failing those, on a change project agreed with the municipal permit authority. Zoning sets the limit: on our reading of the original 2016 Annex 1, in სზ-5 or სზ-6 a shop may become a cafe or bar, but a restaurant or hotel needs a special zonal agreement. See our entry on commercial space for the purpose line on the extract.

What applies in Batumi?

Batumi's own zoning rules lost force on 3 December 2019, so its plots fall back on Resolution No 261. In its original text, the "mixed zone" works almost the reverse of the brochure sense. In the centre (შზ-2) and business (შზ-3) sub-zones, shops, offices, hotels and multifunctional buildings are permitted and a multi-apartment house only by exception. The resort sub-zone (შზ-4) lists no housing, and the commercial sub-zone (შზ-5) allows it only for people employed there. In the high-intensity residential sub-zone (სზ-4), flats dominate and a hotel is permitted, unlike in Tbilisi's residential sub-zones.

Resolution No 372 of 28 October 2024 restated the coefficients: K-2 2.5 in სზ-4, 3.5 in the centre and 4.6 in the business sub-zone. Amending Resolutions No 403, 485 and 551 were not checked, and a plot's zone can be read only from the master plan map. Our first line entry has more on Batumi's zoning history.

Who votes and who pays when some units are shops or hotel rooms?

The Law on Homeowners' Associations counts a shop, an office or a hotel room as a unit like a flat, whether used for living or for business (Art. 3), so its owner is a full member. What differs is the balance of money and votes:

• Costs follow area. Each owner pays upkeep by the unit's share of total area, wherever the unit is (Arts. 5(3), 5(6), 7(3)), unless the charter says otherwise. A large supermarket pays towards lifts its staff may never use.
• Votes follow units. Without a charter, each unit carries one vote (Art. 28(4)). A large shop has one; an operator keeping, say, 40 hotel rooms as separate units has 40.
• The charter can change both. It needs two thirds of the votes, or three quarters with 12 members or fewer (Arts. 23, 28(1)).

Without a charter, more than half of the votes present decide (Art. 28(5)), so a holder of many units can carry ordinary decisions; a lawyer should confirm. See residential complex amenities, the homeowners' association and building maintenance fees for the wider rules and fee levels.

Can the owners stop a bar opening downstairs?

Not by a vote. Each owner may use their unit at their discretion as long as this breaks no law and no third party's rights (Art. 7(1)), so a shop that becomes a cafe within its zone and registered purpose is within its rights, provided it harms no other owner (Art. 21(1)). The only device we found that binds future owners is Art. 22: a use restriction set by written contract among members takes effect only once registered in the Public Registry. A sales promise that no bar will open is worth little unless it appears on the commercial unit's own record. On our reading, a majority cannot ban short-stay letting or hotel use in units either, without a registered restriction on each unit; a lawyer should confirm.

Hotel floors add their own questions. Georgia's tourism law requires no accommodation licence, and Public Ruling No 143 of 14 May 2026 treats a hotel room as another asset rather than a flat when sold. Our pages on the aparthotel, aparthotel units in Batumi, aparthotel or apartment and rental pools explain the rest.

What protects your flat from restaurant noise and kitchen smells?

Government Resolution No 398 of 15 August 2017 sets noise limits inside buildings for day, evening and night (Art. 2, Annex 1).

For impulsive or tonal noise the limit is 5 dBA lower (Annex 1), and whoever causes an excess must insulate or fit silencers (Arts. 4(4)-(5), 5). The gap: for a restaurant built into a residential house, a noise assessment before commissioning is voluntary and cannot block commissioning (Annex 2, Art. 1(2)-(3)), so your remedy comes afterwards, by complaint and measurement. For smells and smoke, Civil Code Art. 175 makes an owner tolerate impacts that are slight, or that come from ordinary use and cannot be stopped by normal measures, with compensation where they exceed what is usual locally and economically acceptable. We found no Georgian rule on kitchen extract ducts, so ask to see the drawing.

Will residents compete with customers and hotel guests for parking?

They may. The Tbilisi Rules (Art. 39, table restated on 24 February 2026) set a minimum only for housing: 1 space per 150 m² of residential K-2 area, or 1 per 180 m² in the peripheral zone. Offices, retail centres, hotels, cafes and restaurants have no minimum, and a mixed plot needs the sum for each function (Art. 39(4), original text). So the flats drive the parking count, yet nothing in the law reserves those spaces for residents. Bays in new buildings are usually separate registered units, so get yours registered in your name or under a written lease. Street parking is covered on our Tbilisi parking page.

How many mixed-use buildings are there, and do they cost more?

No one publishes either answer. Geostat counts permits and completions by building type with no mixed-use class, and Galt & Taggart's Tbilisi permit series counts only the residential and balcony area of class III and IV multi-apartment and multifunctional buildings. Our supply tracker has those figures. We found no study of a price or rent premium, or discount, for flats in mixed-use buildings, and we do not estimate one.

The commercial floors are better measured. In Galt & Taggart's May 2026 office report, Tbilisi had about 1.0 million m² of offices in residential buildings in 2025, with a vacancy rate of 53% (p. 9), and rents in ongoing contracts of about USD 13 per m² against USD 17 in midscale business centres (p. 10, incl. service fee, excl. VAT). See commercial yields. Our inference: an office floor in your building may stay empty, still owing its share of costs but bringing none of the life the brochure shows.

Seven projects described as mixed-use

These are examples of what the term covers, as described on the date shown: not a ranking, not checked on site, and with the zone of each plot not confirmed.

Two lessons follow. Projects change: Alliance Centropolis was announced in 2020 with towers of 45 and 50 floors, while a listing on korter.ge showed 48, 55 and 48 floors on 25 October 2026. And a project sold as Tbilisi may lie in another municipality under other rules, as Vere Hills does. Batumi's resort-scale schemes are on our Batumi megaprojects page.

What should you check before buying a flat in a mixed-use building?

1. The zone. The plot's sub-zone decides whether a restaurant or hotel may open later and whether the flats exist only by exception.
2. The permit file. Land-use terms, any special zonal agreement, and the approved project showing which floors are flats, offices, retail or hotel. Ask whether flats or money went to the city.
3. Other units' records. Order extracts for the commercial units and parking bays: purpose, owner, mortgages, registered restrictions. Our guide to reading an extract helps.
4. The charter. Does it set a separate cost formula for commercial units, and who holds how many units?
5. Kitchens and hotel access. Where the extract duct runs, what insulation is specified, and whether hotel guests have their own entrance and lifts.
6. Your parking bay. Registered to you or leased in writing.
7. Changes since launch. Compare today's brochure with the first announcement.

Risks and exceptions

• Reading the mixed-use label as a promise. It does not fix what the commercial floors become.
• Relying on a spoken assurance. Only a registered restriction binds the next owner of a unit.
• One large holder. Without a charter, many units mean many votes.
• Counting on footfall. Galt & Taggart put vacancy in offices in Tbilisi's residential buildings at 53% in 2025.

Frequently asked questions

Is mixed-use a legal category in Georgia?

The law speaks of a multifunctional building: two or more functions, none above 75% of the area.

Can flats be built in a Tbilisi business zone?

Up to 25% of a building's area, or 95% with a special zonal agreement, since 29 July 2025.

Can a restaurant open under my flat in Tbilisi?

In სზ-5 and სზ-6 the original 2016 Rules list it as needing a special zonal agreement; a cafe or bar is a basic use.

Does a big shop get more votes?

Not without a charter: one vote per unit, while costs follow area.

Are flats in mixed-use buildings dearer?

No published study measures a premium or discount.

Sources

1. Tbilisi Rules on the use and development of territories, Res. No 14-39, matsne.gov.ge, original text, 24 May 2016 (accessed 3 November 2026)
2. Res. No 58-63, Tbilisi City Council, 25 July 2025 (accessed 3 November 2026)
3. Res. No 17-111, Tbilisi City Council, 25 November 2022 (accessed 3 November 2026)
4. Res. No 7-12, Tbilisi City Council, 15 February 2022 (accessed 3 November 2026)
5. Res. No 42-59, Tbilisi City Council, 12 July 2024 (accessed 3 November 2026)
6. Res. No 9-15, Tbilisi City Council, 24 February 2026 (accessed 3 November 2026)
7. Government Res. No 261, matsne.gov.ge, original text, 3 June 2019 (accessed 3 November 2026)
8. Government Res. No 372, matsne.gov.ge, 28 October 2024 (accessed 3 November 2026)
9. Law on Homeowners' Associations, matsne.gov.ge (accessed 3 November 2026)
10. Law on Public Registry, matsne.gov.ge (accessed 3 November 2026)
11. Civil Code of Georgia, matsne.gov.ge (accessed 3 November 2026)
12. Government Res. No 398, acoustic noise norms, matsne.gov.ge, 15 August 2017 (accessed 3 November 2026)
13. Office Real Estate Market in Tbilisi, Galt & Taggart, May 2026 (accessed 3 November 2026)
14. Construction, Geostat (accessed 3 November 2026)
15. Archi Grand Avenue presented the next stage, Georgia Today, 9 October 2026 (accessed 3 November 2026)
16. Trump Organisation tower in Georgia, The National, 17 September 2026 (accessed 3 November 2026)
17. Construction of MAQRO City Tbilisi has officially begun, Georgia Today, 27 October 2025 (accessed 3 November 2026)
18. NEXT launches Tbilisi Oriental, Georgia Today, 3 November 2025 (accessed 3 November 2026)
19. Vere Hills, TCHOBAN VOSS Architekten, undated (accessed 3 November 2026)
20. Alliance Centropolis financing, Entrepreneur Georgia, 13 July 2020 (accessed 3 November 2026)
21. Alliance Centropolis, korter.ge, 25 October 2026 (accessed 3 November 2026)
22. ORBI Continental announcement, Orbi Group, 17 September 2025 (accessed 3 November 2026)

Change log

• 3 November 2026 - Published 3 November 2026: explainer on zoning, ownership, noise and parking in buildings that combine flats with shops, offices or hotel floors, with seven dated examples.