How to seduce tenants

Instead of financial lures, developers are now offering companies offices in buildings with unique designs, the option of leaving children in a kindergarten and limousine services for tenants’ managerial staff. The day of the incentive is drawing to a close

For an office to become competitive it must offer much more than just a good location, attractive tenancy conditions and flexible space. Włodzimierz Jędruszak, a member of the board of GD&K Consulting, the Kraków-based development company, stresses that the experience of western European countries is that what is fashionable today can rapidly become a standard – and not only in Warsaw. Katarzyna Szyndlar, who is director of the investment consultancy department for Metropolis Commercial Real Estate – a company with projects in the Upper Silesia conurbation, adds: “This is why developers and owners of buildings must be aware that tenants have to be offered additional titbits.”

Canteens and fitness centres as standard

Although demand still exceeds supply on the office market, not every office can find a tenant. As Piotr Trzciński, a senior office consultant for Jones Lang LaSalle, points out: “The Salzburg Centre on Warsaw’s ul. Grójecka and Czerniakowska Centrum on the busy ul. Czerniakowska, which are largely still unoccupied, can serve as examples.” This proves that location is not the main factor determining a building’s attractiveness. A good project, with
lighting and an advantageous geographical location are
also important, to which must be added the extra features which some office buildings are offering.

The entire supply of modern office space in Warsaw amounts to around 2.6 mln sqm. In comparison, the figure for Poznań is just over 103,000 sqm and Łódź has a mere 551,000 sqm (according to Colliers International’s data for the first half of 2007). But even so, the fiercest struggle for tenants is being waged in Warsaw, where most of the buildings with individual solutions and additional functions are appearing. A canteen and fitness club have become standard features. One example of a novelty that has been introduced is the private kindergarten and playground for the children of people working at Empark Mokotów Business Park on ul. Domaniewska as of next year. Piotr Trzciński adds that one of a few car-wash facilities has been installed in Vipol Plaza II in the Wola district and in the Metropolitan on pl. Piłsudskiego. A potential tenant of the top storey of the Trinity Park II building at the intersection of ul. Suwak and ul. Domaniewska would enjoy exclusive access to the terrace on the building’s roof. Arka BZ WBK Real Estate Market Fund is the owner of this office building.

The battle for architects

Tenants looking to enhance their image with a prestigious address and through the appearance of their headquarters are bound to be attracted by the offers of developers who have spent huge sums signing up the brightest stars of architecture. In the opinion of Michał Melaniuk, commercial director for Globe Trade Centre: “A well-known name is not only excellent for the profile of a building, but also a guarantee that what will be built is of the highest quality. The same is true of the developer. A company which has a reputation for delivering buildings of a high quality is the best possible recommendation.” The Metropolitan designed by Sir Norman Foster and Rondo I by the Polish AZO studio in collaboration with US-based Skidmore, Owings & Merrill – best known for the Sears Tower in Chicago – are examples of this. Segro, which is developing Tulipan House in Warsaw, is hoping to attract tenants with the building’s interesting shape. This office building is designed in the shape of a tulip-head. Then there is the Horizon Plaza building – currently under construction at the corner of ul. Domaniewska and ul. Wołoska – by Curtis Development and the IVG Immobilien investment fund of Germany, which is designed as waves of various size tumbling against one another, the tallest of which have 11 storeys.

Limo to the airport

According to Katarzyna Szyndlar of Metropolis: “It is still difficult to find modern office buildings outside Warsaw, while those which do exist are of good quality but differ little between each other. The small supply and great demand mean that investors don’t even need to try to make their buildings attractive.”

In Łódź, where industrial buildings dominate the scene, most of the available offices are situated in these characteristic red-brick premises. Bartosz Mierzwiak, director of the office department of Jones Lang LaSalle, explains that: “This is why a modern glass building makes a real impression. One example is Forum 76 Faktoria on al. Piłsudskiego, where a roof garden available to all tenants is planned.” In Kraków, tenants of the M65 Meduza office building will be getting  a fitness club, while reception staff will assist in theatre reservations or in delivering clothes to and from the laundry. Włodzimierz Jędruszak of GD&K stresses that: “We are also thinking of offering an office limousine which would carry the senior management of our tenants to the airport, hotel or meetings instead of them having to go by taxi.”

Out of the office buildings to be delivered in Katowice this year, mention has to be made of the Reinhold Centre, which will definitely be above the local standard, containing an atrium with a garden. Sky Tower in Wrocław (250 m with its spire) developed by LC Corp, will be offering tenants such attractions as a tennis court, a climbing wall and a swimming pool.

Competition in the office space market is intensifying by the day. Developers are keeping a close eye on events and are already at the stage of choosing locations and drawing up plans, trying to create buildings with features which would simultaneously surprise future tenants, while also offering flexible office space as well as being energy-efficient and safe.         

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Aneta Demianowicz