PL

Edition 6 (191) June 2014

Hotels

New, old hotel

One of the most famous hotels in Warsaw has just lost its business partner and logo. How, after twelve years of being run under the Hyatt Regency brand, is the new, old hotel coping?

Aneta Cichla
Editorial

Party like it’s 1989

The year was 1989. I was still in primary school and unfortunately many of my memories connected with the politics of that time have since faded. It seems that my priorities were rather different when I was a teenager compared to now. However, there are some images from the years that followed that have lodged in the recesses of my memory: huge expanses of grass in the centre of Warsaw, having fun in the amusement park in front of the Palace of Culture and Science, and excursions with my best friend to Billa on ul. Chełmska, which was the first supermarket of a foreign chain in Poland.

Ewa Andrzejewska
Residential

Remodelled type of business

POLAND In the eight years of its activities on the market, Łódź-based company Kralka Investment Group has sold 25,000 sqm of residential space in tenement buildings it has renovated in the city. So far the company has been focused on Łódź, which is famous for such old tenements and its textile industry. Now that it has found that its way of doing business has proven to be successful it wants to enter new markets. The first few projects outside Łódź will be carried out in Warsaw and Kraków.

Aneta Cichla
Warehouse & industrial

Breaking the spell of the eastern wall

POLAND Weaker economic indicators, low activity among tenants, poor infrastructure – these are among the main reasons why warehouse developers have avoided eastern Poland thus far. Changes, however, are afoot.

Rafał Ostrowski
Stock market report

Gloomy when it’s sunny

The geopolitical tension in the East might now have subsided a little, but that’s no reason to expect any willingness among investors to buy shares. The healthy macro-economic data and the clear revival in the Polish economy don’t seem to be boosting confidence, either. The main indices have slipped while the sector indexes plunged

Feature

A million behind them, a million ahead of them

One million sqm in seven years – this is the challenge that Kielce-based developer Echo Investment, which has recently announced the completion of its hundredth project, has set itself. We discuss a possible new sector for the company (warehousing) and its latest projects, as well as gazing into the crystal ball, with Piotr Gromniak, president of the board of Echo Investment

Ewa Andrzejewska
Feature

25 million square metres on the clock

A quarter of a century after the political and economic landscape was transformed, the Polish commercial real estate market has become one of the most attractive in Europe. The fact that 25 mln sqm of offices, warehouses and shopping centres have been built in 25 years might be a coincidence – but it Is still a hugely significant number

Tomasz Szpyt
Feature

Glass houses

The Polish office market has not just blossomed but has now reached full maturity. The latest estimates reveal that 7 mln sqm of modern space was built in Poland over the last quarter of a century. And to think that we were starting virtually from scratch in 1989

Feature

Light years of retail in just twenty-five

Looking at the Polish retail scene now, it’s sometimes difficult to believe that it can only be 25 years old. The pre-free market days now seem light years away from the ultra-modern shopping palaces that glitter in every city and large town. The speed of the development of this market has been truly phenomenal

Aneta Cichla
Feature

Shedding years

The market for modern industrial space came into being in Poland around 1998–1999. This is when the first two class ‘A’ logistics centres were developed: the first was Warsaw Distribution Center, which was built by CEIDCO, and the second was Menard Doswell’s Warsaw Industrial Center

Zuzanna Wiak
Feature

A place fit for the free to live in

A quarter of a century ago nobody in Poland had even heard of developers building homes, but now in the country’s six largest cities over 30,000 apartments per year are bought from development companies. You can pick and choose: from the cheapest ones priced at a few thousand złoty per sqm, to the most expensive for several dozen thousand złoty per sqm

Ewa Andrzejewska
Retail & leisure

When it all caves in

A broken pipe, a power cut, trouble with the escalator – any of these situations can arise in a shopping centre. However, Poznań City Center had a much more serious problem, which led many to question the safety of public buildings and the trust the market puts in investors

Aneta Cichla
Construction

PPP goes to ER

You could say that public private partnership in Poland is suffering from a Winnie the Pooh syndrome. The more it is talked about, the less of it there is. This is, of course, an exaggeration. However, the scene could be about to change thanks to the budget deficits of local councils and their obligation to modernise hospitals by the end of 2016

Tomasz Szpyt
Events

Happy hoteliers

The mood at the sixth meeting of hotel sector players from Poland, the CEE region and further abroad on May 13th was one of cautious optimism. The fundamentals look good and new segments are opening up. And 25 years after the fall of communism, a more mature approach to investing and marketing is evident

Nathan North
Endpiece

Looking for a house? Then print it!

Have you ever seen the Polish cartoon about the enchanted pencil that could materialise anything you drew? Well, it seems we are halfway towards developing such an invention – thanks to the magic of 3D printers

Rafał Ostrowski

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