Year of the Developer

The vacancy rate, which was predicted to fall in 2006, did indeed drop; and what was to have risen – rents – at least started moving. In line with earlier expectations, it has been a fantastic year on the office market.Research done by the Warsaw Research Forum indicates that 186,300 sqm was rented in Warsaw centre and 225,000 sqm outside the centre, which gives a total of 412,200 sqm. By comparison, 2005 closed with a result around 40,000 sqm worse than in 2006.Twenty-one office buildings with a combined total area of 186,700 sqm were completed in the past 12 months. The largest debuts were: Rondo 1 (55,000 sqm) from Hochtief Project Development Polska on Rondo ONZ, and two investments by Ghelamco of Belgium – Prosta Office Centre in the district of Wola (18,600 sqm) and Trinity Park I in the Mokotów district (18,500 sqm). There were also two other Mokotów projects: Cirrus (12,900 sqm) by ECI and Topaz (11,000 sqm) developed by Globe Trade Centre.The very largestRa