Ziv Zviel of Atlas Estates

Atlas Estates recently obtained a credit facility from Bank Pekao SA that will mainly be used for the refinancing of the Warsaw Hilton City hotel. How confident are you in this particular asset and in the hotel sector in CEE locations like Warsaw? Does the loan also reflect the banks' confidence in such assets?

Hilton Warsaw City is not just another hotel in Warsaw – it’s rather the leading hotel for companies and individual business people, with the largest conference facilities in the city, and actually it’s the perfect leisure hotel for individual and groups, with its one of a kind offer of the 4,000 sqm Stellar Premium wellness and fitness club that also includes a semi-Olympic swimming pool and wet wellness area. The hotel is enjoying a very strong performance, which we expect to further improve. On top of that, some things are now in the making and I encourage you to stay tuned for what’s to come in the next few months.

You're also active in other sectors, such as residential and office. How much will you be focusing on these into the future?

Land banks suitable for residential development in Warsaw are hard to find, and this is frustrating the activities of many developers. Hence, we are moving forward with residential development initiatives in other locations, which we will be sharing when the time comes. We are also looking for acquisitions of land banks for logistics developments as well as existing office buildings in Warsaw – and I believe we will be able to reveal some news about this soon.

How are you now planning to grow your Polish and CEE portfolio – and in which locations?

With our knowledge of Poland and the region, and on the back of our reputation and equity, we are encountering opportunities all the time. Our experience allows us to analyse all sorts of opportunities and to identify those that are more relevant to us.

How promising do you think the real estate market still is in our part of the world, given its increasing maturity?

Poland and the wider CEE region remain attractive for real estate investment due to their strong economic fundamentals, growing consumer markets and competitive labour costs. Poland, in particular, offers political stability, EU membership and a strategic location at the crossroads of Western and Eastern Europe. The region continues to benefit from increasing urbanisation, infrastructure development, and the demand for modern office, logistics and residential space. International investors are also being drawn in by he favourable yields compared to Western Europe. With its educated workforce, rising incomes and digital transformation, Poland and the CEE region offer strong long-term growth opportunities in the real estate sector.