Focusing on Warsaw

Since the company’s arrival in Poland, it has already invested PLN 150 mln of equity in land purchases. The company’s next project is to be Kompozycja Residence, with work to begin in February on ul. Wilanowska in Konstancin near Warsaw. The estate, which should be completed within one year, will comprise 18 semi-detached luxury residences and is to be developed in an investment app. of PLN 15 mln. Each unit will offer a net area of 160 sqm as well as a garden, two underground parking spaces and storage facilities. Prices for the units start at PLN 1.2 mln. Currently negotiations are ongoing to choose the general contractor. The company has also just completed the first stage of its InCity project on ul. Siedmiogrodzka in Warsaw, which should eventually total 483 units and is to be developed in four stages, all of which are being constructed by Unibep. All but 14 apartments in the first stage of 164 units have been sold and at an average price of PLN 8,600 per sqm. On completion the project will also offer 3,240 sqm of commercial space with units from 100 sqm, as well as 496 parking spaces priced at PLN 40,000 each. Work on stage two (97 apartments) began in February 2013 and should be completed in the summer. Work on the third stage (166 apartments) is to begin in February, with the completion scheduled for June/July 2016, while work on the fourth and final stage (56 apartments) should start sometime this year. Okam intends to concentrate its development activity in Warsaw. The reasons for this are twofold. As a foreign investor the company feels less comfortable with developments outside the more international market of the capital city. “Warsaw is a more developed market; it’s completely different to the secondary cities in Poland,” says Arie Koren, the CEO of Okam Capital. “Outside Warsaw people are only interested in buying apartments,” he says, explaining that people will not buy apartments that are still under construction.

Further afield
Despite the company’s avowed enthusiasm for the Warsaw market, the company also owns plots in Katowice, Kraków, Szczecin and Łódź. In Katowice, where the plot was purchased in 2011, the company is currently developing the first stage of its W Dolinie Trzech Stawów project in an investment of app. PLN 33 mln. The estate, located on ul. Sikorskiego, will offer 100 apartments in the first stage, which is to be completed in April. Work on stage two (60 apartments) is to be begin in the summer and should take app. one year to develop in an investment of PLN 20 mln. The average price will be PLN 6,700 per sqm while the project also includes 364 parking spaces, each priced at PLN 30,000. According to Arie Koren, Okam decided to develop the estate because there was no luxury product on the market, but he has been surprised to discover that the addition of 50 sqm free gardens has done nothing to improve the popularity of the apartments (which he takes to be another sign that the market is under-developed). This is not the only modern convenience that appears to be a novelty on the Katowice market: “It’s the only project in Katowice with a lobby, I believe,” claims Okam’s CEO. However, the attractiveness of Katowice as a place to live has improved due to recent improvements in the city’s infrastructure. “From W Dolinie Trzech Stawów it’s only three to four minutes to the A4 motorway,” says Mr Koren.

Plans for Łódź
Due to the city’s poor transportation links, the company has so far hesitated over developing its plots in Łódź, waiting for the completion of the new Łódź Fabryczna railway station as well as the A1 motorway. The company intends to develop the Galmet medical centre near the station and has just started work on a 1.2 ha former factory site (the Józef John foundry) on ul. Piotrkowska, where the company is developing a centre with 25 units for a food boutique with artistic and cultural facilities in the first stage. Above the centre, in the second stage, a 17-storey residential building could eventually be built. The company has already received the site development conditions, which allow for 40,000 sqm of apartments to be developed.