12 March 2008

Polish investor and developer Echo Investment plans to open a new office complex called Postępu Park in Warsaw's Mokotów district in the third quarter of 2009. The 34,000-square-meter park, which will cost over zl.200 million, will be constructed at the intersection of Domaniewska and Postępu streets.

The site is close to the city center as well as Okęcie airport. It will have four free-standing seven-story buildings, with the average floor space on one story ranging from 1,300 to 1,500 square meters. All the buildings will have a separate entrance, a spacious reception, and a shared parking lot underneath. The site will have 800 parking places, 700 of which are in an underground garage, with two independent entrances from Domaniewska and Postępu streets.

Glazed facades will provide ample light. Commercial and service outlets, as well as eateries and newsagents for tenants will take up around 1,200 square meters of the park's floor space.

The combination of glass and steel will give the buildings a sense of space, the developer says. The facades at ground floor level will make the buildings look as if they are floating in mid air, the developer promises.

The landscaping of the side facing Domaniewska Street and a square with a fountain at the front of the complex will add to the site's appeal. The interiors will be completed with high-class finishing materials and a professional security and monitoring system.

The developer estimates the average monthly rent for office space will be about 16 euros per square meter.

The Modzelewski & Rodek company, specializing in reinforced-concrete constructions and finishing works, has been commissioned to construct the complex. Its biggest projects so far include Warsaw's Sheraton hotel, the Warsaw University Library and the Warsaw Financial Center.

The design of Postępu Park is the work of the APA Wojciechowski architectural practice. The company has extensive experience and has worked on prestigious projects such as the White Square Office Center in Moscow and Warsaw's Saski Crescent.

Set up 12 years ago, Echo Investment, a company controlled by Michał Sołowow, one of the richest businessmen in Poland, has carried out 79 projects in 28 cities. These include hotels for major chains, shopping centers like the Pasaż Grunwaldzki in Wrocław, and the Galaxy Shopping Mall in Szczecin. It has also built office buildings such as Warsaw's Babka Tower.

Echo Investment won the Best Residential Development award for its Mondrian House luxury apartments in Warsaw in 2005. The company's plans 45 new projects by 2013 and aims to invest zl.1 billion.

Polimeni buys Sochaczew land for shopping center

Commercial real estate developer Polimeni Feb. 4 acquired a 4.5-hectare plot in Sochaczew, central Poland. The site is located next to the intersection of Warsaw Street and the city's beltway.

Polimeni, an international company with headquarters in New York, plans to construct a retail park known as the G4 shopping center. In Poland, the developer is focused on the construction and management of shopping centers.

Biedronka Grows

The Biedronka supermarket chain, owned by the Portuguese Jeronimo Martins Group, says it is strengthening its position on the Polish market. Last year Biedronka increased its retail space by 18.5 percent. At the end of December, the chain had 1,045 stores across Poland.

Biedronka has its own logistics system that comprises six distribution centers across the country. Over a million people shop daily in Biedronka supermarkets in this country, the company says.

The Jeronimo Martins Group in 2007 spent 468.5 million euros on capital investment. Of this sum, 57.3 percent went to Portugal and the remainder to Poland. New stores swallowed 70 percent of the Jeronimo Martins Group's overall investment spending last year.

In December Jeronimo Martins struck a deal to take over from Germany's Tengelemann the latter's chain of Plus mobile telephony stores in Poland and Portugal. Since entering Poland, the Jeronimo Martins Group has invested over zl.2 billion here.

Jeronimo Martins bosses say that in 2008 Biedronka's growth will be even more rapid. Recently released financial results for 2007 show that Biedronka's overall sales increased by 39.5 percent when denominated in euros and by 35 percent in zlotys.

DTZ to Manage Business Parks

Global real estate adviser DTZ has been appointed by Ghelamco Poland to provide property management services for Marynarska Business Park, one of the largest A-class office facilities in Warsaw.

DTZ provides management services, including setup processes, for Marynarska Business Park and conducts the day-to-day operations involving all management and financial services. The property is part of a large portfolio being developed by Ghelamco and managed by DTZ.

Aneta Juszkiewicz, joint head of DTZ Property Management in Warsaw, said: "We are delighted to be involved in such a prestigious project on the Warsaw office market and are honored to have once again been chosen by Ghelamco Poland to manage such a major office complex."

Tomasz Czuba, Ghelamco Poland's leasing director, said: "The tender for the management company was conducted jointly with Netia SA, the main tenant at Marynarska Business Park. Both parties chose DTZ for their highly qualified team of specialists and long track record in handling big office occupiers."

Marynarska Business Park is a modern A-class office development, which consists of four buildings and offers a total of 43,000 sq m of office space. The complex provides openable windows, raised floors and full heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems. It also features a flexible floor layout, four entrances and external landscaping, including a fountain, to create a pleasant working environment. The business park is now 75 percent leased.

Restaura Maraton Gardens on Sale

The sale of 275 apartments in the Restaura Maraton Gardens complex, which comprises six elegant apartment buildings in the heart of Poznań in central-western Poland, started March 3.

The apartments offer comfort in a peaceful and safe location, more often found in the suburbs than a city center. The complex is located close to Multikino, a multi-screen cinema, and is just 300 meters from the Stary Browar retail, art and business center, and a few minutes from the Old Town and the city's finance and business district.

The PRC Architekci architectural office designed the complex. Thanks to the use of natural materials, large windows, balconies and terraces, the buildings look more like luxury holiday homes than city-center apartments. The materials used in the apartments include fine woods, sandstone on the elevations, granite in the stairwells and marble in the interiors. Every apartment has a balcony or terrace and its own storage facility.

An office building of some 22,000 square meters, to be completed at the same time as the apartments, will shelter the apartment complex from the noise and bustle of the nearby Królowej Jadwigi Street.

Construction starts in March and the completion date is set for November 2009. The project went to tender and Restaura is likely to choose a contractor in the next few weeks.

One square meter has a net price of between zl.9,500 and 12,500. A space in the underground parking lot costs zl.35,000 and a resident's own parking space zl.45,000 net.

Spanish company Restaura from Barcelona has for the last 30 years carried out projects in Spain, France, Portugal and Germany. It entered Poland in 2005 and in August 2007 opened a local office in Poznań. Restaura mainly restores old buildings and even whole streets in smart districts.

This year Restaura has earmarked some 120 million euros for projects in Poland.

Multi Development and Tesco Sign Koszalin Contract

Developer Multi Development Poland has signed an agreement with British grocery giant Tesco, which will become the biggest tenant at the Forum Koszalin shopping center in Koszalin, northwestern Poland.

Tesco will be the first grocery hypermarket in Koszalin, occupying 7,000 sq m on the ground floor of the shopping center, near other well-known national and international brands and with immediate access to the underground parking area.

Tesco is one of the world's largest retail chains, owning more than 3,300 stores in 12 countries and employing 400,000 people. It is also the largest chain in Poland, with 300 stores of a total area over 500,000 sq m and 28,000 employees.

Forum Koszalin is a covered shopping center located at the southern edge of the city on the main road 11, which connects Koszalin with Poznań. It includes two levels of shop units, a multiplex cinema, restaurants and a Castorama DIY store. Media Markt will complete the spectrum, offering a wide selection of electronic products.

Forum Koszalin will be the biggest retail and leisure center in the whole region. Access to the local freeway and public transport network is excellent, and there are 1,600 parking spaces. A tower, reminiscent of the lighthouses of the Baltic coast nearby, will form a landmark for the project.

Multi Development Poland is part of Multi Corporation, one of Europe's leading companies in the field of developing, owning and operating quality shopping centers, offices and mixed-use projects.

send to a friend	print article