Of native stock

Polish companies are easy enough to spot among the office and retail developers operating in and around Poland, although perhaps less so in the capital. But native modern warehouse developers remain scarce, both in the Warsaw vicinity and the rest of Poland as well.

Warehouses with standards

"Polish developers haven't caught the momentum of the warehouse market and have just focused on office investments, which in my view is a mistake," says Mirosław Koszany, Head of Krakow's Biuro Inwestycji Kapitałowych. Perhaps because a few years' ago there was an abundance of very cheap space in old facilities, the modern warehouse market looked comparatively unappealing to local developers. In Mirosław Koszany's view, they probably thought that searching for tenants willing to pay rents of USD 4-4.5 per sqm was pointless, when the latter could always choose to pay PLN 5 per sqm. Why then, did BIK adopt a different approach? "When it became clear that our economic development depended on trade with the West, Polish firms began to adopt western standards, and working closely with western suppliers, logistic firms and traders, forced Polish companies to adapt to modern warehouse units," explains Koszany.

Let's lease at home

Biuro Inwestycji Kapitałowych built their first warehouse partly for Expans, a fruit importer who are also one of their shareholders. "On the one hand that seems quite convenient, considering that we had a guaranteed tenant," says the BIK President, "on the other, however, it is a 'customer' who is unwilling to pay as much as other tenants might." BIK's 10,000 sqm warehouse in Krakow (which includes 2,000 sqm of office space) was completed in 2000 and is currently leased by three companies: Construbau Polska, Viscofan-Polska and Expans, which is also one of the two tenants in BIK's other warehouse in Ożarów Mazowiecki. The latter, which is an 11,000 sqm unit with 1,500 sqm of office space, houses the headquarters of Ecco-Papier and has been leased out entirely. Koszany also informed us that Expans is no longer a BIK shareholder, and that his company are planning further developments in Gdańsk, where they have acquired a plot, and Wrocław.

Contractor, developer - no problem

"How do we compete with the major western developers who dominate our market? Well, we try to stick to our niche. We offer our tenants buildings which are constructed strictly according to their requirements," says Lech Bieńkowski, Director for Development at the firm 'Problem'. "We're also aware that it pays to maintain high standards in warehouse offices, as it increases the chances that tenants might move their headquarters there." Problem, developer of Pruszkowskie Centrum Dystrybucyjne and Żoliborskie Centrum Biurowo-Magazynowe, first emerged as a construction firm but, following the construction of a number of warehouses, such as IKEA's in Stara Iwiczna, re-invented themselves. The turning point for the company came during their work on a Żoliboż production plant, which they thoroughly renovated and whose functions they partially altered. Problem then extended the building by purchasing an adjacent plot where they constructed a new warehouse and office building. The 6,000 sqm of office and 8,000 sqm of warehouse space are occupied by the firms Warta and Triumph. For the time being, Pruszkowskie Centrum Dystrybucyjne consists of four warehouses of a total of 35,000 sqm, most of which is taken up by Kühne und Nagel, who bought a 10,500 sqm warehouse there and leases a further 7,000 sqm from the developer. Other tenants are firms such as the logistics operators, Mexem and DMT, and a clothing company, Sarah Lee.

Patience is a virtue

"We once used to build warehouses without any pre-leases, as was the case with the building occupied by Sarah Lee," recounts Bieńkowski, "Nowadays, however, we are more patient and wait for clients before we start work, because Problem's investments are always financed by bank loans, as the company doesn't have the kind of money to build vacant warehouses, which earn no income from leases." The developer is hardly passive, however. Problem have already put up the preliminary structure for warehouse nr5 in Pruszków, which will not only allow them to start work as soon as they find a tenant but will also fulfil the latter's exact technical requirements.