Baltic sailing

Baltic Investment Limited has recently sold its office and warehouse facility in Warsaw's Wola district. The new owner of the 9,000 sqm construction, called Jana Kazimierza International Trade Centrum, is Mandy Investments.

The building in Wola was the first property Baltic Investment purchased in Poland. "We managed the property well and we improved the occupancy," boasts the manging director of Baltic, Michael Alcamo. Last summer the group decided to release the property on the market. "We felt it was the right time to rationalize the portfolio in light of the strength in multiples in Poland," said Alcamo. At the close, Jana Kazimierza was 70-percent occupied.

Being reluctant to reveal the purchase price, Alcamo only said it was "well north"of the price per square meter paid in late 2004 by French pharma company Servier for an adjacent parcel, also of 9,000 sqm. "In the end, we felt the price was very fair," said Alcamo. In the transaction, Baltic Investments was advised by Michael Davies from Siemištkowski & Davies as well as by Ben Bannatyne, CEE director from Jones Lang LaSalle.

Baltic Investment also owns agricultural land south of Gdańsk and an 8,000 sqm hotel development site in Malbork, opposite the famed Malbork Castle. Alcamo said that since Baltic Investment is concentrating now on the Polish hospitality sector, the company plans either to sell the site or to develop it.