Baltic view

The two conjoined luxury apartment towers of 28 and 36 stories and reaching 138 meters in height, are to be built in Gdynia just 12 meters from the sea, near the city's favorite promenade, Skwer Kościuszki. The investor, Invest Komfort, is offering 275 apartments ranging from 43 sqm to 235 sqm. The cheapest apartments will cost zł.6,000 per sqm while those who want to buy the luxurious penthouses will have to cough up as much as zł.20,000 per sqm.

"The thing that distinguishes the Tri-city real-estate market from other Polish cities is the availability of attractive plots at the seaside," said Artur Pietraszewski, an analyst for real-estate market advisors REAS Consulting. The supply of apartments at the seaside is still low and as Pietraszewski points out, they are significantly more expensive than the average projects on the market. In Q1 2006, the prices in the Tri-city area averaged zł.3,756 per sqm, while near the seaside the figure reached zł.7,000-8,000 per sqm. Penthouse apartment prices averaged between zł.10,000-12,000 per sqm.

Although the Sea Towers are playing in another league as far as height is concerned, experts notice a trend towards building higher in the Tri-city. "People expect to have a view over the sea, and since there aren't many locations at the seaside, higher buildings have to be built," Iwona Ziemianowicz from Hossa Investment said. She pointed to the company's on-going investment Marina Primore in Gdańsk's Przymorze district. The investment will consist of four buildings, two of which will be 17 stories high. The average price of the apartments will come to around zł.5,500 per sqm "But the penthouse apartments will cost over zł.10,000 per sqm," Ziemianowicz said.

Apart from the proximity of the sea, Pietraszewski sees another great advantage of Gdańsk. "The city has large plots in the vicinity of the historic city center," he said. He points to the investment projects such as Wyspa Spichrzów, Ołowianki and Młode Miasto (Young City).

As for Sopot, some have predicted that the posh locale could become Poland's Monte Carlo, where the rich could have their summer houses. However, residential investments in the city have hardly reached a fever pitch. "There is practically no space in Sopot, just individual plots," Ziemianowicz says.

Pietraszewski agrees that in rich circles, Sopot is an exclusive resort. "The average price for one square meter is zł.8,000," he said.

Michał Pakulniewicz