briefs

TK Development conquers Silesia (Śląsk)...

TK Development has announced another investment in  Silesia. After constructing Plejada Bytom and Plejada Sosnowiec, it is now to build Galeria Śląska in Chorzów.
The project will be carried out in co-operation with the Carrefour hypermarket chain, which is a co-investor and at the same time the biggest tenant of the retail centre in Chorzów. Galeria Śląska will have a retail area of 31,000 sqm. Construction is scheduled to start  in this quarter and to be completed in November 2003.

...and enlarges Reduta in Warsaw

Warsaw Retail Centre Reduta is to be enlarged by over 10,000 sqm. The decision to extend the centre was made by its developer, TK Development Polska (TK Polska Operations).
The Centre, which currently has an area of 70,000 sqm., will also have 700 more parking spaces. The extension is scheduled for completion in the fourth quarter of 2003.

HIT becomes property of Tesco

On 4th July, Tesco PLC, the British hypermarket chain, took over all the HIT hypermarkets operating in Poland (13), two under construction (one in Piastów) and 4 locations. The exact value of this transaction is being kept confidential. We only know that the value is lower than PLN 2,6 billion.
According to Wojciech Sokół of Tesco, it is still not certain whether the name of the existing 13 HIT hypermarkets will be changed. Tesco - which appeared on the Polish market in 1995 - currently manages 15 hypermarkets and four more will open this year. HIT's Polish office, part of Dohle Handelsgruppe, has  refused to comment on the transaction. The German group will be withdrawing from the Polish market.
The take-over of HIT by Tesco is the first transaction of this type on the Polish market, although analysts have been talking about such a possibility for quite a while now. One year ago the Jumbo supermarket chain was up for sale, but - despite rumours of negotiations with E.Leclerc - there was no transaction in the end.

Compensation from Rzeszów

The company Carrefour Polska is demanding compensation - PLN 25 million has been rumoured - from the authorities of Rzeszów, for deferring the construction of a hypermarket. According to the daily Puls Biznesu, although the investor was well into the planning stages of the construction, the Rzeszów authorities reversed their decision of 2000, (which approved the location of this hypermarket), at the end of March.   Despite that and the compensation claim, Carrefour still wants to find a compromise solution.
Rema 1000 in Legionowo
Echo Investment are to build a 1,000-sqm. store for the Rema 1000 chain in Legionowo near Warsaw.

Investment in Lublin

Construction of a fair and exhibition centre (22,500 sqm.) is planned   in Park Ludowy (People's Park), in Lublin this year, at a cost of PLN 20 million.
 The investment partners  are the district government (financing), the city authorities (the plot) and the company Międzynarodowe Targi Lubelskie (International Lublin Fair), (technical documentation and  the construction permit).
The centre will be ready next year. Międzynarodowe Targi Lubelskie will be the owners but 85 percent of the company's shares will be taken over by the district government.

Galeria Mokotów already leased

Three months before the opening of the additional part of the Warsaw retail and entertainment centre Galeria Mokotów, 100 percent of the space is already under lease and  tenants include: a 'Smart' car dealer, Verasce Classic and Peek & Cloppenburg.
This second stage of Galeria, which belongs to the Globe Trade Centre Group, will have an area of 11,000 sqm. Warbud and SAP PROJEKT are involved in the construction, among others. Cushman & Wakefield H&B and Jones Lang LaSalle were in charge of leasing the space.

Another Ahold in Gdańsk

Ahold,  the supermarket chain operator, has leased 1560 sqm. at the Manhattan retail centre. The transaction was concluded with the assistance of Ober-Haus.
The centre under construction will have an area of 28,000 sqm. It is scheduled to open in October 2003.

The government on hypermarkets

The government presented a report concerning the social and economic consequences of big-area stores, to the lower chamber of Parliament (Sejm), at the beginning of July.
The existence of big-area stores - said Vice-Minister of the Economy, Andrzej Szarawarski - means that smaller shops will be increasingly excluded from the market and will suffer from larger stores' near-monopoly on suppliers. On the other hand,   he accepted that modern retailing was crucial for the developing Polish economy. The Minister assured senators that supermarkets and hypermarkets would be systematically assessed, and initially by a State Labour Inspection.

I.T. International Theatres' 20 multiplexes

By opening the sixth 12-screen multiplex in Katowice, Cinema City, (part of I.T. International Theatres), increased its market share in Poland, and the Israeli operator's plans include extending its chain by 20 more multiplexes. Once this has been   accomplished, the value of I.T. International Theatres' Polish investments   will reach USD 220-240 million.