Boomtown Bydgoszcz

“Apart from Kielce, Lublin, Rzeszów and Szczecin, Bydgoszcz has been featuring in the enquiries of BPO/SSC investors more and more often. These are mostly companies that are already present in Poland and because of new projects or after acquiring more experience of the country, are looking for markets that are attractive from the investment point of view, developed in terms of the infrastructure, and with a good availability of labour and office space,” comments Błażej Kucharski, the regional director of Colliers International. “The growth in the companies already present here, such as Atos, Alcatel Lucent and SDL, as well as the potential of the entire region, leads us to believe that the emergence of other investors from the modern business services sector is only a matter of time,” agrees Edyta Wiwatowska, the president of the Bydgoszcz Regional Development Agency, who is responsible for investor relations in the region. And is this investor interest also accompanied by the activity of developers?

Developers in action

The supply of offices in Bydgoszcz currently amounts to just over 41,000 sqm. By comparison, Rzeszów has almost 44,000 sqm, in Kielce the figure is over 57,000 sqm and Lublin and Szczecin each have almost 100,000 sqm of office stock. Bydgoszcz has slightly better figures when it comes to space that is under construction – almost 14,000 sqm. The vacancy rate in the city is now around 6.2 pct. “In order to satisfy the growing needs of our current tenants as well as create conditions for new companies, in Q4 of this year we will put into operation a new office building under the name of Eta and another, Teta, will be opened next year. Together they will add almost 10,000 sqm of modern office space to the market,” says Katarzyna Łoś-Wąs of Biznes Park Kraszewskiego 1, the largest Bydgoszcz-based developer of office space. In addition, Idea Przestrzeń Biznesu, a small ‘B+’ class office building, should also be completed in Bydgoszcz in Q4. The investor behind the six-storey building is the Bydgoszcz Industrial and Technology Park. It will have a useable area of 7,000 sqm, 4,100 sqm of which will be taken up by offices. Investment costs for the project will come to PLN 22 mln, with half of these financial resources coming from EU subsidies. Another two projects are at a less advanced stage: Immobile K3 – an office building with some retail and services that CDI Konsultanci Budowlani is planning to build at pl. Kościeleckich 3, and Arkada Business Park. Immobile K3 will comprise an area of almost 8,600 sqm. The launch of the construction work is planned for Q3 this year. According to the investor the total useable area of the building will amount to 12,500 sqm. The final building permit has been issued and the company is currently in negotiations with potential tenants, with the completion of the project planned for Q4 2017. It was designed by the CDF Architekci studio. Meanwhile, the first of the two buildings of the Arkada Business Park complex is to be finished in Q4 next year. The project by local company Arkada Invest is to be built on ul. Fordońska. The building will have a leasable area of 11,200 sqm – 10,100 sqm of offices and 865 sqm of retail/services. Arkada Business Park will also be BREEAM certified at the ‘Gold’ level. The complex of two 10-storey buildings will eventually offer an area of app. 22,000 sqm.