Building on the waterfront

Danish property development giant TK Development has formed a joint venture with Meinl European Land to construct the mixed-use Młode Miasto (Young City) complex in Gdańsk. The 84,000-sqm center will house some 50,000 sqm of retail, restaurant and leisure facilities, an 11,000-sqm office block and a 10,000-sqm residential block. Real-estate investor Baltic Property Trust has an option on major sites in the old shipyard area of Gdańsk, which is now the planned site for Młode Miasto, an extensive waterfront commercial and residential development.

"We have made several joint ventures with Meinl European Land before and are pleased to do so with them once again," said TK Development executive vice president Robert Andersen. The firm has been working in the Polish market for 10 years and first teamed up with Meinl European Land three years ago. Andersen said, "We have a very positive opinion of  the Polish market, we see strong opportunities to expand our business there." He added, "Our main focus in Poland remains on developing retail facilities, office buildings and residential apartments in Warsaw, but we are looking to expand into other major cities around Poland and Eastern Europe."

The joint venture will buy some 4.5 ha of land from the Baltic Property Trust to site its new complex. Close to the waterfront, the city's old town and central station, the complex aims to attract some of the one million residents in the Tri-city area and the thousands of tourists that flock to the region each year. The complex is due to open in 2009.

Jon Young