Briefs

Metropolitan nominated

Hines' Metropolitan office building in Warsaw has been nominated for the MIPIM award in the category of the best office center. Other nominees for the award are Tower Place in London and Central City in Vancouver. 37,000 sqm Metropolitan was designed by Foster and Partners. Hochtief Polska was the general contractor of the project.

Philips settles for Łódź

Following previous information regarding Royal Philips Electronic's plans to move its financial and administrative centre to Poland, it has been anounced that the company has acquired a plot of land in Łódź (Central Poland) for PLN 2.3 mln. Philips plans to build the centre which will outsource works for 20 European countries in finance, accounting and auditing. The company will employ 500 people.

Poznań oversupplied

The supply of modern office space in Poznań (West Poland) in 2003 was signifficantly larger than that in other regional cities, according to Knight Frank. The amount of 39,000 sqm has substantially influenced the vacancy rate in the city, which reached the level of 35%. According to KF, oversupply in Poznań made the investors hold up other projects. No new office space is expected in the current year. In Kraków (South) the new supply in 2004 will be appr. 10,000 sqm (15,000 sqm in 2003) and in Wrocław (West) appr. 5,000 sqm (13,300 sqm in 2003). The situation in Warsaw is different. This year will see more new office space of appr. 160,000 sqm larger, than last years figures of appr. 154,000 sqm.

Property not for sale

Telekomunikacja Polska has decided to move its managing staff to the company's office building at ul. Twarda, Warsaw. This could mean that TP is not going to sell the property as was previously considered.

Compensa in Mistral

Polish insurance company Compensa has leased 4,500 sqm in Mistral office building in Warsaw. Any agency was involved in the deal. Mistral developed by Austrian company Karimpol is located in Al. Jerozolimskie. It will be ready for tenants on April 1st.