POLAND Warsaw West the next office hub?

After Służewiec district and the area around Rondo Daszyńskiego (where office development now exceeds 1 mln sqm), the neighbourhood of the ageing station offers possible office locations close to a major transport hub. The station, which is to undergo major redevelopment over the next three years, still provides 1,000 different train connections each day. Along with other improvements to the local transport infrastructure, the city is also planning to open a tram line connecting the area with Wilanów district.

The optimistic scenario is that once the station is rebuilt, the new track is laid, the local infrastructure has been improved and the new tram route opened, the area around Warsaw West station will offer attractive conditions for tenants in the next few years. This location would be a convenient alternative for companies that want, on the one hand, to be close to the city centre and who, on the other, don’t want to pay high rents. At the moment the office buildings here, such as West Station, Brama Zachodnia (West Gate) and Eurocentrum, are an option for tenants whose leases expire in three years. It’s highly likely, as a result of the improvements in transport, that one of the trends will be an increase in base rental rates. However, compared to Wola or CBD, it will still be possible to save a few euro per sqm, which could be spent, when the pandemic is finally over, on much more attractive fit-outs.
Bartosz Oleksak, a negotiator in Axi Immo’s office agency

According to the consultancy, the challenge for developers – as it is in other areas of Warsaw – is the relatively limited land available for new projects. One natural area for development would to be along ul. Tunelowa, away from the residential buildings on the Ochota side of the district. This could involve purchasing existing buildings and then modernising or converting them for office use.