PL

Edition 1 (217) January 2017

Editorial

Off-piste thinking

I can feel a swoosh building up in my ears. My only problem, or rather challenge, is to put the right weight on my outer ski, because my left-turns can be a bit dodgy.

Ewa Andrzejewska
Events

Magnificent seventh

In a year of shocks and surprises (mostly shocks), one thing that could be depended upon was the Eurobuild Awards Gala, which took place, as it did last year, at the DoubleTree by Hilton in Warsaw’s Wawer district on December 6th.

NN
Eurobuild Awards

In seventh heaven

The 7th Eurobuild Awards Gala took place on December 6th at the DoubleTree by Hilton hotel in Warsaw. Last year’s best companies, projects and performers were recognised in 30 categories

Tomasz Szpyt
Eurobuild Awards

Rondo of applause

The glass tower in central Warsaw celebrated its 10th anniversary last year. Strong local competition has emerged over the last decade, but this has not prevented Rondo 1 from being chosen by tenants for the Eurobuild Award in the Office Building of the Year category

Tomasz Cudowski
Eurobuild Awards

Two ladies, one award

Two women, both from JLL, have been chosen as the joint best office building managers by the tenants. Magdalena Kuran-Piszczek (right), a senior property manager at JLL, is the head of the team managing Rondo 1 in Warsaw, and property manager Joanna Pergół, whose award was picked up by Virginie de Baere (left), director of real estate management, is in charge of the Zebra Tower and Lipiński Passage buildings in the same city

Interview conducted by Tomasz Cudowski
Eurobuild Awards

Third time on top

Galeria Echo celebrated its fifth anniversary in 2016. And now has to make room in its huge trophy cabinet for its latest gong – its third Eurobuild Award

Tomasz Szpyt
Eurobuild Awards

Natural born winner

A hat-trick is not something that only happens in a football match. They don’t happen very often and don’t happen to everyone – but once they do, they are something to celebrate. This is the third time tenants have chosen Grzegorz Czekaj, the director of Galeria Echo in Kielce, as the best shopping centre manager at the Eurobuild Awards. We asked the winner how he feels about receiving the statuette once again and about his plans for the mall. We also asked him to reveal some of the tricks of the management trade

Interview conducted by Tomasz Szpyt
Eurobuild Awards

The Pearl of Pomerania

The winner of this Eurobuild Award, Centrum Logistyczne Kowale I and II, is located just outside Gdańsk and can be characterised as a place that has it all – chiefly, an excellent location and management

Rafał Ostrowski
Eurobuild Awards

Presenting it as it is

Marta Kostyk (right), prologis’ property manager for the Lower Silesia region, picked up the award for the Best Warehouse Manager of 2016. She spoke to us about how important communication and understanding are for tenants

Interview conducted by Rafał Ostrowski
Eurobuild Awards

Maintaining form

Michał Skorupski, 7R Logistic’s administrator, who collected the award together with Izabela Gajek for the best warehouse manager of 2016 (won jointly with Marta Kostyk of Prologis), believes that a manager must maintain service standards, despite the human factor

Interview by Rafał Ostrowski
Office & mixed-use development

Two projects and many leases for Vastint

POLAND In November 2016, Vastint Poland completed the construction of the first phase of the Business Garden office complex on ul. Legnicka in Wrocław and now the first stage has been issued with an occupancy permit.

Investment & finance

Always a Central European

How long is the current boom on the CEE market likely to last? Árpád Török, CEO, TriGranit: Unfortunately, I’m not a prophet and I can’t say. What is certain is that 2016 has been the busiest year on the real estate market since the 2008 economic crisis hit the CE region, and I expect further investment volume growth, yield compression and price increases over the coming twelve months. However, markets seem to be approaching their peaks, although it’s difficult to predict when they are going to reach them.

Interviewer: Alex Hayes
Retail & leisure

Neinver reorganises portfolio

EUROPE Neinver, one of the leading investors in outlet centres, has made major changes to its portfolio. VIA Outlets, a joint venture company of APG, Hammerson, Meyer Bergman and Value Retail, has signed a contract to buy four European centres for EUR 587 mln, including Factory Wrocław in Wrocław.

Warehouse & industrial

Panattoni moves into gear

POLAND Panattoni Europe is constructing a silicate board factory for industrial insulation producer Skamol. The 6,000 sqm plant is being built on a 3 ha plot as a BTO development in the special economic zone WSSE Invest Park in Opole, with the work to be completed in April 2017. The deal was mediated by Colliers International.

Hotels

Lodging in the Hamptons

Last year you announced the opening of nine new Hampton by Hilton hotels. Where will they be located? Magdalena Sekutowska, Hilton Worldwide: We have nine Hampton by Hilton hotels under preparation or construction at this time. These are in Gdańsk Oliwa, Gdańsk Old Town Łódź, Lublin, Kalisz, Poznań, Warsaw’s Mokotów district, Oświęcim and Jelenia Góra. It is worth noting that apart from these Hampton hotels there will also be two new Hilton Garden Inn hotels – one in Szczecin and the other in the Mazury region. The majority of these will be opened in 2018 and some in 2019.

Interviewer: Rafał Ostrowski
Stock market report

Sprint to the finish

Santa Claus did eventually fly over the Warsaw Stock Exchange, lifting the mood and turning a weak 2016 into a moderate year in its final stretch. Of course, declining turnovers and the worryingly low number of debuts (along with companies pulling out the WSE) do not bode well for this year, but at least they have not entirely marginalised the bourse among the global markets

Technology

Droning on and on

In December Amazon boasted the first drone-based delivery for a customer – a resident of Cambridgeshire in England, who received the goods just 13 minutes after placing the order. Is this just a clever marketing trick or the actual beginning of a new era in e-commerce?

Tomasz Cudowski
Creative environments

Space to create

Our civilisation has never been developing as rapidly as it is now. New technologies, business models and professions are all emerging at a giddy speed – and, according to sociologists, new social classes are also appearing. How can property developers Capitalise on these trends?

Rafał Ostrowski
Construction

Making concrete plans

Out of the 720 km of expressways and motorways to be built in Poland involved in tenders now being organised by the General Directorate of National Roads and Motorways [GDDKiA], as many as 40 pct (280 km) are to be concreted, in a shift away from the more usual asphalt

Rafał Ostrowski
Events

Choppy waters but no tsunami

The year started with some rather choppy waters on the Vistula – or rather, in the country through which it flows. A changing of the guard had taken place in the Polish corridors of power and was then followed by the Brexit vote. The market, as is its wont, bided its time, but as nothing much happened in the next few weeks, business was then able to chug along as normal. Thus it came as no surprise that the mood during the Annual Polish Commercial Property Conference organised by Eurobuild Conferences was rather cheerful

AC
Endpiece

Bring back boredom

Have you noticed that boredom has almost completely disappeared from our lives? That good old-fashioned idleness that sometimes led to something worthwhile? But these days it’s simply impossible not to do anything. Even if we’ve got nothing interesting to do.

Tomasz Cudowski

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