During the latter half of the 1990s, discussions on Utö increasingly focused on what the future of the island would look like. The Utö pilot station, where many Utö residents had worked, ceased to operate as an independent unit in 1991, and in the early 2000s, the Finnish Defense Forces also began reducing their activities on Utö.

In 2002, the Local Heritage Society decided to support two EU-funded projects: "Utö – a living outer archipelago community year-round" and "Utö – meetings between the local and the global." Both aimed to develop Utö village so that it would suffer as little as possible from the Defense Forces' gradual scaling down of operations on Utö.

By the end of 2005, the Defense Forces had effectively shut down their operations on Utö entirely. Some of the land and buildings previously owned by the Defense Forces had been transferred to Senate Properties, and these could potentially be sold to a local entity.

The Local Heritage Society took the initiative on this matter together with Korpo municipality, and this effort resulted in the society, together with the municipality, establishing the real estate company Fastighets AB Öjar in 2006. They purchased a 14,500-square-meter area with 11 buildings.

The association’s initiative in 2006 can be seen as part of its overarching goals.

Of the houses purchased in 2006, three have since been sold to society members for recreational and professional use. The remaining residences have been rented out to individuals wishing to settle on the island for shorter or longer periods. In 2008, Öjar Utveckling AB, a company wholly owned by the Utö Local Heritage Society, bought out Korpo municipality’s share in Fastighets AB Öjar.

Shortly after Senate Properties completed this initial sale of houses and land on Utö, it became clear that Senate Properties also intended to divest areas and buildings on Enskär, the northern tip of Utö. On Enskär were the Defense Forces’ barracks building and official residences.

The society also engaged in this process, highlighting the need for Enskär’s facilities to be utilized in a way that would benefit the island’s infrastructure and year-round life. Various proposals were put forward and discussed.

The process culminated in 2008 with the opening of a hotel called Utö Havshotel in the barracks building on Enskär, featuring amenities such as a restaurant and sauna. Later, the hotel’s operations were expanded to include a guest marina.

In 2010, Öjar Utveckling took the initiative to renovate the building known as Vapenlagret, which had originally served as a canteen for the Russian army during World War I. The intention was to renovate the building into a multi-purpose and event space for the society's members and residents of Utö. Grants were obtained, and the building has been put into use as a multi-purpose space.