Cities of Opportunities
Kraków on display
Kraków set out an extensive array of offers at MIPIM 2006, with many plots already designated for commercial or residential use. "The trend right now is to build residential buildings and hotels and most of the offers we have here today are related to those areas of development," says Marta Witkowicz, the director of Kraków's treasury department.
"Most of the people who come here are looking for plots right in the city center," she says. "Unfortunately the city does not own such plots any more. We brought just one offer for a small apartment building to MIPIM. On this plot there is a historical building, so here we are talking about a remodeling [of the building] rather than a demolition."
The offer in question is a 0.0612-hectare plot around 700 meters north of the city center on ul. Zwierzyniecka. The land is designated for housing purposes with commercial premises on the ground floor. There is one building on the plot, containing five apartments and five commercial rooms which the city would like to see renovated and developed. The building is not in the register of historical monuments.
A small residential plot of 0.0679 hectares for residential development is available on ul.Twardowskiego, south of the city center. The land is located in a residential district near green areas. Currently it is undeveloped, and is designated for three- to six-storey residential multi-family buildings. It is not covered by a local spatial development plan, but an application for the issue of the building conditions is being prepared. The price per sqm is approximately zł.350.
About two kilometers outside the center is a large plot of 1.8065 hectares containing a number of garages and temporary structures. Situated on ul. Orawska, the city would like to see a development there, with dwellings and service outlets located on the ground floors.
Office space
"Another strategic goal for the city is finding an investor that could revitalize former industrial areas in the city. It is also extremely difficult to find parking, so we are looking for an investor that could find a solution to this," says Witkowicz.
A huge amount of commercial plots for logistics or office facilities are available to investors. In terms of offices, one of several interesting plots stands out. Located on ul. Siewna, the 0.632 hectare plot is designated as a four-floor building. It has a price tag of around zł.200 per sqm and is located near a number of residential buildings.
Last year at MIPIM, Kraków was looking for an investor to build a congress center, and the town's authorities are still looking. "All the related formal decisions have been made but we have not yet found the proper investor that would provide the solution the city is looking for," says Witkowicz.
At MIPIM, the Kraków team was having little trouble attracting investors, and it enjoys a relatively high profile among investors in Central and Eastern Europe. "Kraków is in vogue right now so many of the investors are telling us why they want to come to Kraków," says Witkowicz. However, sometimes they need a helping hand, and Witkowicz assures that the city authorities will walk them through each step of the investment and development process: "You have to comply with certain rules but we will do as much as we can to make the process easier for investors."
Capital offers
The capital city is usually the first stop for property investors, but the massive interest in Warsaw in the past years seems to have thinned the herd of available investment opportunities somewhat. That said, the city still has a number of plots and proposals to whet investors' appetites.
"Developers have no problems with selling projects, especially residential projects," says Krzysztof Kondrat from Warsaw City Hall, who added that the city was presenting a portfolio of offers worth zł.500 million by public tender. The city is not in individual negotiations with investors. At MIPIM, Polish, Spanish and Irish investors were those most interested in the city's offer.
The capital has several major key offers, as previously reported in Lokale Immobilia, including the development of Plac Defilad, the proposed stadium and congress center and the development of Plac Piłsudskiego. "In Plac Defilad alone [the proposal is for] about one million sqm of new buildings," says Kondrat.
Plac Piłsudskiego reconstructions
The ongoing tender for the development of Plac Piłsudskiego was a major element of Warsaw's portfolio at MIPIM. The first part of this tender concerns the accurate reconstruction of the Bruhl Palace as it was in 1939, before it was destroyed during the Second World War. The city wants the exterior to be built using traditional methods, but the interior can be adapted with more modern facilities.
The second part of the tender concerns the reconstruction of a tenement building located on the corner of ul. Królewska, which must "creatively refer" to a building that stood on the site in 1939. The city expects to issue a new tender for this project in the second half of this year.
On ul. Smolna in the city center there is a 696-sqm plot with an office building. The area is protected under the voivodship conservator of monuments, and the permissible construction area is about 280 sqm. It is designated for housing and services.
Open house
There are two interesting plots available at Rondo Starzyń-skiego, of 5,309 and 4,547 sqm. Both are designated for housing, with services on the ground floor. The first plot has a permissible construction area of up to 1,600 sqm and the second of up to 60 percent.
A 6,103-meter plot is available in ul. Dalibora in Wola. Trees on the site must be maintained, and the plot is designated for 12-meters apartment blocks with basic services on the ground floor.
Plots in Mokotów always attract a lot of interest, and the city is offering 1,449 sqm on ul. Rzymowskiego for a multi-family residential development. Up to 70 percent of the plot can be developed with a maximum building height of 18 meters.
A 1.6-hectare plot is available at ul. Okopowa 78 with a number of buildings on site. The area is designated for multi-family residential, services and trade, office and hotel functions, with multilevel garages and inner roads. Several elements on the plot, including the main buildings of an old tannery together with elements of the Hala pod Blachą, need to be preserved, adapted and displayed. The maximum height is 68 meters.
On the same street is a plot with three vacant two-storey office-warehouse buildings over 11,045 sqm. It is designated for services and the construction area is up to 4,170 sqm.
See the next edition of Lokale Immobilia for full coverage of MIPIM 2006
