All the Presidents' men

The Warsaw real estate scene is familiar with the names Blue City and Millennium Plaza, and perhaps Amnon Shiboleth but what about: Albert Nasser, Isaac Dabah, Israel Reshef, Joe Nakash and Henk Keilman? They are the group of international investors who own Singspiel and Anandrous the two Amsterdam registered companies that hold 51 pct of the Blue City shopping centre and Millennium Plaza, on Aleje Jerozolimskie. They are currently looking for new investment opportunities in Poland, and at the beginning of June whilst visiting the country they were invited to meet not only the president of Warsaw, but also Aleksander Kwaśniewski the Polish president. Eurobuild discussed their visit with Amnon Shiboleth, who acts as the group's spokesman.

All proposals considered

Why the official receptions? "It was a courtesy visit. The presidents had heard about our investments and were interested in knowing a little bit more," Mr. Shiboleth said enigmatically. During the meeting they talked about whether the group planned to invest again in the country. To this the answer is yes, and though all propositions will be considered, for the moment Warsaw is the preferred location. He explained why, "We have contacts, managers and banks in Warsaw. Going to another city would mean establishing a new network of associates." Mr. Shiboleth spoke more about developments they have studied. The identities of two could not be disclosed, but we can reveal that one consists of two office buildings, whilst the other is a 50 pct stake in a residential portfolio covering seven sites.

Expanding Sobieski

They have also looked at Hotel Jan III Sobieski and its adjoining land which includes an office building currently occupied by Pekao SA Bank (owner of 37.50 pct of Hotel Jan III Sobieski) Mr Shiboleth said that what was interesting was the potential to use the empty plot to build a conference centre for the hotel. Sobieski's marketing manager Dariusz Futoma confirmed that the entire portfolio has been on the market for some time. He explained that adjacent land had been acquired by the hotel's management in order to be able to add facilities and that the intention is to sell the complete holding to allow this to happen. Not far away, in the Wola district of the city, is a parcel of derelict land belonging to the industrial digger manufacture Bumar Waryński. Totalling 67,740 sqm and selling for PLN 80 mln the site currently houses several office buildings, warehouses and other industrial facilities. "A development here would be the renovation of an existing office building, and the construction of a further three office blocks. There would also be the option of adding some retail units," Mr. Shiboleth explained.

A successful start

So far the group's foray into the Polish market seems to have been successful. Following the extensive refit that Amnon Shiboleth announced in Eurobuild's July 2002 edition, the Millennium Plaza's vacancy rate is sharply down. According to Paulina Starzyńska from Mediagram, which is responsible for the building's media relations, "The office space is now approximately 90 pct let, after acquiring several small tenants recently. Our largest, Bank Millennium, took its premises in the autumn of 2002. It leases 9 floors of the building, or 13,000 sqm." The Blue City shopping centre opened its doors to the public in March to chaotic scenes of shoppers fighting to grab the first day's bargains. It is too early, however, to draw conclusions as to the success of the mall. Perhaps the most important question asked was why they choose to invest in Poland? Enthusiastically Amnon Shiboleth told us, "Poland has advanced amazingly over the last ten years and will do even better over the next ten."