One foot in the stock exchange

POLAND After having built over 2,700 apartments in 16 projects in Warsaw and the Masovian province in the last ten years, Włodarzewska Development has decided to diversify its operations and move into retail development. The first project of this type is Galeria Brwinów shopping centre in Brwinów outside Warsaw. The centre, which will have a leasable area of app. 7,000 sqm, should be completed in Q1 next year. "We are planning to build more retail projects in the future. The current situation on the market has led to a number of such projects being suspended. So we are conducting negotiations concerning four such projects, focusing preliminarily on prepared facilities and those already under construction," reveals Jerzy Szymański, president of the management board of Włodarzewska Development. The projects should be at least as big as the one in Brwinów. The first acquisitions of projects are expected next year.
More in store
Warsaw's Ursynów is the district that the developer has chosen as the location for its first office facility. "We are planning to start the construction of a twelve-storey office building with an area of over 10,000 sqm on ul. Jastrzębowskiego next spring. Having received the site development conditions for this plot we are now hoping to obtain a building permit for the project by the end of 2011," claims Jerzy Szymański. The design of the building, which will have a glass façade, is the work of Piotr Piętka. The developer will also be moving its head office to the class ?B+' office building, once the construction work is completed in mid-2013.
The company also has another plot of land in its land bank earmarked for a mixed-use project on the corner of ul. Sienna and al. Jana Pawła II in the centre of Warsaw. Sadly, the sudden death of the architect who was to design the building, Stefan Kuryłowicz, has put the project on hold. However, Włodarzewska still wants the Kuryłowicz & Associates architectural studio to work on the project. The company would like to start the construction phase at the beginning of 2013 and already has the site development conditions for a building with 52 floors, with a possible built-up area of 30,000 sqm. The preliminary design involves using the two first floors for retail, while apartments would account for 30 pct of the area and the rest would be allocated to offices. The developer would also like to invest in the warehouse sector. "We have a 50 ha plot in Dziecinów near Warsaw, where we could build as much as 20 ha of warehouse facilities. The project could be launched at the end of 2013. Our land bank also includes 250 ha of land earmarked for retail projects in Brwinów, Serock and Sobienie Jeziory, among other locations," adds Jerzy Szymański. In Sobienie, where the company is already developing a golf course combined with a residential estate, it is also planning to soon open a hotel in a restored palace complex. The building, which is to contain 100 rooms and sports facilities, should be ready next year in time for Euro 2012. "We are interested in buildings that can be transformed into hotels. We are mainly looking at locations aimed at the conference market," reveals the president of the company. However, the developer has not given up on residential construction, either. It has plots in Ursynów, on ul. Cybisa and ul. Pileckiego and on ul. Drawska in the Ochota district, where in total a net living space of app. 50,000 sqm could be developed. The completion of these projects is planned for 2013. Włodarzewska Development is also preparing to start the next stages of residential projects in Sulejówek and Brwinów.
Challenges ahead
However, the biggest challenge the company has to face in the next 12 months is its flotation on the Warsaw Stock Exchange. Apart from increasing its value the company is also preparing its structures for it. In June Włodarzewska issued corporate bonds worth PLN 20 mln. Another such campaign is planned for November (the value of the bonds could reach as much as PLN 30 mln). We have to choose the right moment to enter the stock exchange. We are planning for it to take place next year. I hope that we will be ready by the end of June. Today the value of the company amounts to app. PLN 350 mln. At this point it is hard to talk about more detailed plans connected with going public," concludes Jerzy Szymański.
Zuzanna Wiak