Church gets into development game; Portico secures funds
The development of a $20 million office building on Church-owned land not far from the Marriott Hotel is a one-off occurrence, church officials said. The archdiocese does not plan to develop for commercial purposes other properties in Warsaw, said Father Ryszard Rumianek, who manages economic affairs for the archdiocese. But that's not to say this policy couldn't change in the future. The Church owns many properties in Warsaw, although the others are not in the city center. And only time, and money, will tell if these one day will be commercially developed.
"Life verifies various things," Rumianek said. "Our material power is land."
Normally, the Church uses its land for religious education purposes. But the city center property proved too valuable and the archdiocese, well, it needed the money.
"Necessity forced us to do that," Rumianek said of the Roma Office Center. "Revenue from the project will be spent for the most important purposes for the Church, which are charity and the development of churches."
The archdiocese isn't actually developing the 3,000 square meter site; that's being done through ABC Holding, a joint venture it created with local investors to build the seven-story building. Construction, underway since June, is being managed by Warbud. The official groundbreaking, though, will take place on Sept. 21 and will be attended by Primate Jozef Glemp, who will bless the site, said Antoni Pietkiewicz, president of the Roma Office Center.
The building is expected to be completed by the end of next year and is scheduled to have 10,000 square meters of rentable space. In addition, the building will have three stories of underground parking.
And while the Church may be known as a charitable institution, renters shouldn't expect the archdiocese to be an easy touch. With its prime location, the archdiocese is expecting to fetch top zloty for square meters in the Roma Center. Pietkiewicz would not say how much the center plans to charge, but added that rates will be competitive with neighboring buildings such as the Warsaw Corporate Center. Monthly rents there are believed to be listed at about $50 a square meter. Healey & Baker and Couderq & Kubas were selected as agents for the building, Pietkiewicz said.
Multiplex money
After months on the money trail, Portico Development and Silver Screen World Cinemas nailed down $60 million in equity financing for the development of at least 10 multiplex cinemas around Poland.
The funding came from New Europe Properties, an investment company owned by Credit Suisse First Boston and Equity International Properties, Portico and Silver Screen announced last week. The $60 million will allow Portico, which is developing the multiplexes, to start more than $200 million worth of projects.
In addition to the $60 million, Portico and Silver Screen, which is the cinema operator for the multiplexes, will get an additional $10 million in equity from their Polish partners - Syrena Entertainment Group and ORBI, a wholly owned subsidiary of Los Angeles-based Pacific Theaters Corp. "That allows us to do 10 large urban entertainment centers," said Vinton Frost, Portico's chief executive. He would not say how the financing will be divided between Portico and Silver Screen.
Frost said additional funds for the 10 entertainment centers, estimated to be $130 million, will come from bank loans on a project-by-project basis. Each multiplex is expected to cost about $20 million.
Portico and Silver Screen plan to have their first project in Gdynia open by November 1999. The center will comprise an eight-screen cinema, about 5,000 square meters of rentable retail space and parking for 400 cars. Portico has acquired other sites in Katowice, Wroclaw and Gdansk. The company wants 10 additional locations in Warsaw, Szczecin, Poznan, Krakow, lodz and the Katowice region.
One-upmanship
The new funds will allow Portico to shift into higher gear in its competition with Multikino, a joint venture of Polish holding company ITI Holdings and U.K.-based United Cinema International (UCI). That company became the first multiplex operator in Poland when it opened a Poznan complex, which cost $10 million to build, in July. That same month, the company also started construction of Warsaw's first multiplex. Multikino originally planned to develop 10 multiplexes around Poland. Now, after what ITI said was a buoyant first four weeks of operations at its Poznan facility, the company is planning to increase the number of theaters to 15-20.
"The level of concession sales (in Poznan) during the initial weeks reached the projected one-third of ticket sales and ITI's expectations," ITI said in a statement accompanying its first-half results released two weeks ago. The Poznan center attracted weekly audiences of 18,000-20,000, according to the company, which is publicly traded in Luxembourg.
"Life verifies various things," Rumianek said. "Our material power is land."
Normally, the Church uses its land for religious education purposes. But the city center property proved too valuable and the archdiocese, well, it needed the money.
"Necessity forced us to do that," Rumianek said of the Roma Office Center. "Revenue from the project will be spent for the most important purposes for the Church, which are charity and the development of churches."
The archdiocese isn't actually developing the 3,000 square meter site; that's being done through ABC Holding, a joint venture it created with local investors to build the seven-story building. Construction, underway since June, is being managed by Warbud. The official groundbreaking, though, will take place on Sept. 21 and will be attended by Primate Jozef Glemp, who will bless the site, said Antoni Pietkiewicz, president of the Roma Office Center.
The building is expected to be completed by the end of next year and is scheduled to have 10,000 square meters of rentable space. In addition, the building will have three stories of underground parking.
And while the Church may be known as a charitable institution, renters shouldn't expect the archdiocese to be an easy touch. With its prime location, the archdiocese is expecting to fetch top zloty for square meters in the Roma Center. Pietkiewicz would not say how much the center plans to charge, but added that rates will be competitive with neighboring buildings such as the Warsaw Corporate Center. Monthly rents there are believed to be listed at about $50 a square meter. Healey & Baker and Couderq & Kubas were selected as agents for the building, Pietkiewicz said.
Multiplex money
After months on the money trail, Portico Development and Silver Screen World Cinemas nailed down $60 million in equity financing for the development of at least 10 multiplex cinemas around Poland.
The funding came from New Europe Properties, an investment company owned by Credit Suisse First Boston and Equity International Properties, Portico and Silver Screen announced last week. The $60 million will allow Portico, which is developing the multiplexes, to start more than $200 million worth of projects.
In addition to the $60 million, Portico and Silver Screen, which is the cinema operator for the multiplexes, will get an additional $10 million in equity from their Polish partners - Syrena Entertainment Group and ORBI, a wholly owned subsidiary of Los Angeles-based Pacific Theaters Corp. "That allows us to do 10 large urban entertainment centers," said Vinton Frost, Portico's chief executive. He would not say how the financing will be divided between Portico and Silver Screen.
Frost said additional funds for the 10 entertainment centers, estimated to be $130 million, will come from bank loans on a project-by-project basis. Each multiplex is expected to cost about $20 million.
Portico and Silver Screen plan to have their first project in Gdynia open by November 1999. The center will comprise an eight-screen cinema, about 5,000 square meters of rentable retail space and parking for 400 cars. Portico has acquired other sites in Katowice, Wroclaw and Gdansk. The company wants 10 additional locations in Warsaw, Szczecin, Poznan, Krakow, lodz and the Katowice region.
One-upmanship
The new funds will allow Portico to shift into higher gear in its competition with Multikino, a joint venture of Polish holding company ITI Holdings and U.K.-based United Cinema International (UCI). That company became the first multiplex operator in Poland when it opened a Poznan complex, which cost $10 million to build, in July. That same month, the company also started construction of Warsaw's first multiplex. Multikino originally planned to develop 10 multiplexes around Poland. Now, after what ITI said was a buoyant first four weeks of operations at its Poznan facility, the company is planning to increase the number of theaters to 15-20.
"The level of concession sales (in Poznan) during the initial weeks reached the projected one-third of ticket sales and ITI's expectations," ITI said in a statement accompanying its first-half results released two weeks ago. The Poznan center attracted weekly audiences of 18,000-20,000, according to the company, which is publicly traded in Luxembourg.
