Historic CDT to become sleek Cedet

According to what ‘Eurobuild CEE’ has found, the building’s developer already secured a bank guarantee for the project and received necessary approvals for the construction, redevelopment and extension work on the Centralny Dom Towarowy site. Issued in May, the permits came into force on June 17th, 2014. The development’s area is set to be fenced off from the public at the end of July or in early August and the project’s general contractor is set to be selected by the end of August. The construction work is scheduled to ultimately begin in the autumn. Once renovated and extended, the building, now almost solely destined for retail, will transform into a mixed-use office and retail building. The building’s retail area (currently 7,000 sqm) will remain unaffected, yet its layout will undergo some significant changes. The existing back-office area of app. 1,000 sqm will be enlarged by app. 15,000 sqm of regular office floor space. Thus retail will stop playing a major role in the building.

As part of the work, an entirely new building will be constructed at the junction of ul. Bracka and ul. Krucza. The modern, glass-covered construction will have seven above-ground and four underground floors that will be corresponding with Cedet’s restored part. The new office space will be spread over the first six storeys of the buildings and retail outlets will be located on the ground floor as well as on + 1 and - 1 levels. All the retail units will be accessible for customers directly from the street level. Their floor plans will range from 67 sqm to 2,300 sqm, with the vast majority of stores being split between two levels linked by internal escalators, staircases or lifts. The 140 space underground car park will take three floors: - 2, - 3 and – 4. Its entrance will be situated in the northern part of the building that face ul. Bracka. At the same time, Cedet’s main entrance and the reception hall for office space, will be located on ul. Krucza. A vertical circulation path merging Cedet's both parts will be running in the central part of the building. A modern, fully glazed facade as well as an internal atrium are set to offer the offices an access to natural light. The building is anticipated to receive BREEAM “Excellent” certification.

The restoration and modernization work on the former department store will to be conducted in cooperation with the City’s historical preservation officer, aimed at preserving historical elements in the building’s structure and restoring its original, historical facade with the characteristic vertical and horizontal divisions. In order to enable the construction work, the northern wall of Cedet will be demolished. Yet, the developer will be obliged to retain the historical structure of the building from before the fire of 1975. The building is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2016 or alternatively in Q1 2017. The redevelopment design is authored by two renowned architectural studios: AMC – Andrzej Chołdzyński and RKW Rhode Kellermann Wawrowsky. Cedet's first architects are Zbigniew Ihnatowicz and Jerzy Romański. Centralny Dom Towarowy, a symbol of European modernism architecture at one point, was built in 1950s to become Warsaw’s retail showpiece and popular meeting place. After the fire of 1975, which had completely destroyed the building’s interiors, Centralny Dom Towarowy was restored. Yet, it has lost its original, unique looks and splendour due to the hurried and sloppy renovation work.