The hills are alive

Jelenia Góra is city of many possibilities. Its location in the centre of a highland valley guarantees the growth of the tourist industry and hotel sector

The city is surrounded by the Izerskie Mountains to the west, the Kaczawskie Mountains to the north, the Rudawy Janowickie to the east and the highest range of the Sudeten Mountains – the Karkonosze – to the south. Its proximity to the Czech border (around 10 km) and with Germany (around 70 km) favours the growth of tourism and trade in this area.

 Nothing is being built as little is needed

 Nothing much is happening in residential development in Jelenia Góra, when compared with the rest of the country. The number of old homes in the city’s residential stock is relatively large (around 44.6 pct are homes built before 1945), requiring modernization and repairs. Michał Stępień, owner of the Nieruchomości Stępień agency says: “Most buildings belonging to the city are, practically, ruins which have gone unrepaired for many years. Should these properties not be placed in private hands within the next few years they will only be fit for demolition.”

Council housing is predominant (38.1 pct), while new buildings are rather the exception. Only one large residential estate, Park Sudecki on ul. Sudecka, is currently under development by local company Bracco. The complex of five low (3 and 4-storey) buildings situated around 2 km from the city centre will have a total of 260 apartments. Bracco owns 260-ha of land on which it can develop residential buildings but, for the moment, is using only 15-ha. The price of an apartment on ul. Sudecka will be between PLN 2,830 and PLN 3,260 per sqm. No other large developer is present in the city in practical terms, though the Izery company, which built a small estate on ul. Złotnicza last year, has been involved in individual investments. The price of apartments on the latter estate was in the region of PLN 2,400 per sqm. Tombud, a Leszno-based investor which has just entered this market, is looking to invest here and is interested in buying land on ul. Jana Pawła II, where it intends to develop a building with some 20 apartments. The drawback for any investor is that, as with most Polish cities, Jelenia Góra has very few spatial development plans – covering only 14 pct of the city.

Dorota Flak of King Sturge remarks that: “If you accept the city authorities’ premiss that there should be one home for every household, then 7,000 apartments are needed to satisfy Jelenia Góra’s needs – which are, thus, not excessive. However, due to the region’s tourist attractions, there is much investment in so-called ‘second homes’, which are – more often than not – used only during the holiday season. The prices of such properties are beginning to rise slowly but they still hardly awe-inspiring.”

The prices of flats on the secondary market in Jelenia Góra exceed those on the primary market, something that is unheard in most other Polish cities. The average price for

1 sqm of a several years old flat in good shape reaches at least PLN 3,000 and around PLN 1,800 in old, run-down buildings. The latter are situated mostly in the city’s central quarter (the Old Town, Cieplice) while newer apartment blocks (constructed mainly of large prefabricated slabs) are concentrated in the Zabobrze I-III, Orle and XX-lecie estates.

If you’re going to invest then do so in ...

 There are almost 12,000 businesses operating in Jelenia Góra, including more than 300 with foreign capital. These include DEA, Statoil, Aral, Ahold, Nomi, Komfort, Fam Polska, DSE Draexlmaier (a manufacturer of electric wiring for Volkswagen Passats) and also Jelenia Plast. The chemical industry has dominated for many years, including the nationally known Jelfa Pharmaceutics Plant. The Jelenia Góra Optical Works, manufacturing spectacle lenses and prisms, are also among the larger plants, as well as PM Poland and Dolfamex (producing machines and devices), the Zremb Jelenia Góra Foundry Works and Anilux, which produces woollen knitting yarn. Many organizations servicing the growth of businesses also operate in the region. The most important are the Euroregional Chamber of Industry and Commerce, Karkonoska Investment Society, Karkonoska Regional Development Agency, Jeleniogórska Energy Saving and Enterprise Supporting Agency and also the Polish-German Association for Economic Support.

Consistent with official city policy, heavy industry will rather not be allowed to develop, the stress being on environment-friendly production and services. The city focuses on the growth of tourism and recreation, which is favoured by its location in a highland region. And that is why an increasing number of hotels are opening in Jelenia Góra every year. Apart from small boarding houses and hostels, there are some 10 3-star hotels including the Orbis Hotel Mercure with 188 rooms. The city is also planning new investments which are going to make Jelenia Góra even more attractive to tourists. The construction of a large recreation and sports centre will soon start together with warm mineral water swimming pools in Cieplice, built on an old spa, as well as a sports hall in Zabobrze

Where to do your shopping

 There are only two shopping centres in Jelenia Góra. Echo Centrum developed by Echo Investment, which opened in 2000, has a total area of 20,400 sqm and is to be enlarged early next year.

Wojciech Gepner of Echo Investment describes his company’s plans as: “A new centre which will reflect what the market expects today. A modern, much greater, multifunctional, 3-storey centre will be developed in the place of the existing Echo Centrum. It will have a total space of 85,000 sqm and hold a multi-screen cinema, entertainment and recreation space as well as a gallery with around 80 retail outlets. The modern, attractive architecture of the Centrum will make it very much a city flagship.”

Investors have many positive things to say about the Jelenia Góra market, especially about the ample room it has for new investments

Wojciech Gepner asserts that: “In our opinion, Jelenia Góra is an excellent market. Looking back over the 7 years since Echo Centrum opened in the city, we can unambiguously state that it was, and continues to be, an excellent investment.”

Tesco, with an area of 8,000 sqm, is the second of the city’s two large shopping centres and was also opened in 2000. As well as a hypermarket, it has service outlets, several small boutiques and a car park for 1,200 vehicles.

There is clearly room for another shopping centre, with Parkridge planning to fill the gap with the development of Focus Park Jelenia Góra. It will contain 35,000 sqm of space and will be built in the very centre of the city on a plot purchased from the Ahold company. The 3-storey centre of 18,000 sqm rentable space will have 85 retail outlets. The investment will cost PLN 38 mln, and has been designed by the Mofo Architekci studio. Construction work is to start late this year and is due to be completed in 2008. The first Castorama building materials store is also coming to Jelenia Góra in 2010.

An office and warehouse, you say? – you build them

 It’s not easy being an entrepreneur in Jelenia Góra. Places which could be used as offices can only be found in multifunctional buildings, e.g. on the ground floors of tenements. Large firms such as Jelfa have their own office buildings used exclusively for company needs. Nothing is being said about modern office space even being planned, at least for the moment. The same is true with warehouses. Such space, admittedly, does exist, but this is in rather old buildings, situated in unattractive locations. Some of these are municipally owned, with the city sometimes offering them for sale at prices around PLN 81 per sqm.

According to Dariusz Krześniak, president of the board of the Redco company, which owns one of the city’s largest warehouse areas (8,300 sqm): “There is great evident interest in warehouse space, with customers most frequently asking about space between 200 and 400 sqm.”

The largest storage facilities in Jelenia Góra are on ul. Matejki, ul. Podgórna, ul. Wincentego Pola and ul. Zgorzelecka, offering space between 2,000 and 4,000 sqm most frequently divided into smaller modules. The tenants are mainly local businesses – wholesalers of building and interior furnishing items, furniture retailers etc. There is no truly modern warehouse space available in the city and none is expected to appear in the nearest future.           

Zuzanna Wiak