Good vibrations

Even on the opening day of the fair, it was obvious that a lot of people would be leaving the event in a good mood. At 9 o’clock on this foggy Monday morning in Munich, the crowds were already gathering in the exhibition centre. Nobody wanted to waste a single moment. The visitors launched into discussions and negotiations almost immediately. Even though the fair is still dominated by exhibitors from German-speaking countries, the Central and Eastern Europe contingent continues to make its presence felt more strongly. This year Russian could be heard everywhere as the stands of cities such as Moscow and St Petersburg enjoyed huge interest, attracting visitors with a bewildering number of discussion panels and presentations. By contrast, cities such as Ostrava or Prague were rather pushed into the background. Still, on the other hand there were more upbeat words than in previous years exchanged about the investment potential of two countries that have recently been somewhat forgotten in our region – Bulgaria and Romania. There was also growing optimism about the Hungarian market. Hadley Dean of Colliers International emphasised that soon there could be many transactions taking place in these countries. “Prices are attractive, the economies of these countries are improving all the time, and investment funds are increasingly on the lookout for new, attractive markets. Importantly, new investors also entering the market, including from Russiaand Asia,” commented the head of Colliers International for Eastern Europe. However, the top two countries in our region remain Russia and Poland. “I am glad that I work in Poland. It is still the hottest market in the region and it is Warsaw and Moscow that are attracting the largest proportion of the capital being invested in properties,” stressed Mike Atwell, the head of capital markets at CBRE.
The Warsaw stand, as usual, generated the most traffic as far as Poland was concerned. It was here that all the major players on the domestic market could be met. Admittedly, there were no rabbits pulled out of any hats this time – Ghelamco was there showcasing the Warsaw Spire, as was Porty Lotnicze with its airport office park, BBI Development TFI with Koneser, and Sezam with its skyscraper on ul. Nowogrodzka, while Capital Park was also there to promote its project on the site of the former Norblin factory. In Warsaw we are already familiar with each of these projects, even though many are still at the planning stage and going through the painstaking process of securing permits. The construction work on most of them is not scheduled to start before 2015. However, Poland is not just about Warsaw. The regions also made their mark this year, including Kraków, Łódź and Kujawy-Pomerania. Silesia had a large, eye-catching stand, which enjoyed a great deal of interest from visitors. “It was a very hard-working and, importantly, successful trade fair for us. This year we focused on actually offering something, because thanks to this the results of the meetings were measurable. It is also worth making extensive preparations for the event by making prior appointments,” explained Bartosz Rzętkiewicz, the deputy director of the Łódź Special Economic Zone. One of Łódź’s triumphs at Expo Real was the Ludwik Grohman factory (currently the conference and office centre of the zone), which won the competition for the best commercial property of the fair. The building beat off almost 40 other projects from all over the world to win the accolade. Representatives of smaller towns in Poland were also able to claim that their importance on the market was growing as the country’s transport infrastructure continues to improve. This was pointed out by both Przemysław Ślusarski, the deputy mayor of Grudziądz (in Kujawy-Pomerania), who insisted that the town was well set up for logistics projects, and by Jarosław Ferenc from the development department of Częstochowa city council, who declared that the town was expecting to attract BPO centres.
Most of those attending this year’s fair would have to agree that what distinguished the event this time was that it was populated with meetings where real business was being done. “You can sense the optimism. It is clear that there is much more interest in the various projects on offer. A few years ago things were much worse in this respect,” remarked Tomasz Trzósło of Jones Lang LaSalle. Nevertheless, it should be pointed out that other opinions could also be heard: “A lot of talk, pleasant lunches and gallons of wine consumed, but... will any money be generated? I don’t think so. On the other hand, we’re not here just because it’s the done thing – but because being here really is a must,” – is what I overheard one participant confide to a colleague on the way back to the airport.