City to call tender to develop 10 hectares at sports center
The investor selected in the tender is expected to create a joint venture with Gmina Centrum and Skra to commercially develop the site and also to renovate Skra's sports facilities, said Leszek Cislo, manager in Gmina Centrum's development department.
"The area is very valuable, but the investment needed is significant," Cislo said. He refused to detail how large a stake the investor may take or how much money may go into a project. Cislo said that it was difficult to estimate the size of a possible investment because the Skra project was the first of its type and scale in Warsaw.
But officials with Skra expect the project - which will enable an investor to gain 10 hectares of land in central Warsaw that can be used for a wide range of commercial developments - to attract significant interest. Skra Director Adam Medrzycki said that the land alone could be worth as much as $200 million, and the overall investment could top $500 million. That size would make the investment larger than developer Tishman Speyer's massive commercial complex slated for Krakow, the first phase of which is expected to cost around $300 million.
"Ten hectares of land in downtown Warsaw is a lot. It's a big asset," he said. The state-owned Skra sports club has 20 hectares of land available for long-term lease located at the intersection of ulicas Zwirki i Wigury and Wawelska between central Warsaw and Okecie airport. Skra's property includes sports facilities that were built in 1953 and have never been renovated. The facilities consist of two outdoor stadiums, six outdoor swimming pools and small fields for other games such as tennis, basketball and volleyball, said Medrzycki.
The city's plan calls for an investor to get 10 hectares of land that could be developed commercially in exchange for constructing a new, full-sized stadium, sports and exhibition building as well as a swimming complex. Of the 10 hectares, only 40% can be built on, Cislo said. Hotel, retail or even offices could go on the site, he added.
"It's a very attractive location, like anything along the line between the airport and downtown," said Marceli Krol, president of Global Hotels Development, which is building Holiday Inn hotels in Poland.
He said Global Hotels actually looked at Skra's properties in early 1997 but walked away because of delays in land acquisition and the large amount of money that would have to be spent on recreation facilities.
"We have a mandate for investments in hotels," Krol said. Even if the development does spark intense interest, it is unlikely anything will happen before 2001, Cislo said. He said the tender procedures and negotiations will take about one year, while the project phase could easily take another year.
T.G.I. Friday's goes to Europlex
T.G.I. Friday's plans to locate it's second and probably last Warsaw restaurant in Europlex, a retail and office building under construction on ulica Pulawska.
T.G.I. signed a letter of intent with Jones Lang Wootton (JLW), exclusive agent for the $55 million Europlex complex being developed by Polish-Austrian developer Kinomax and Austria's Bawag Bank. While T.G.I. is negotiating, nothing is signed yet. "There are no contracts in place yet," said Simon Trappes-Lomax, an agent with JLW.
"It's not 100% secured yet," said Marek Seretny, marketing director with American Bistro Poland, which has the franchise for T.G.I. Friday's.
If the Europlex location goes ahead, it will be T.G.I. Friday's second location in Warsaw after its restaurant at the Atrium Plaza on Aleja Jana Pawla II. It would also probably be its last, as the American chain only wants to have two full-size restaurants in Warsaw. If it does decide to open a third restaurant, it will most likely be a much smaller bistro, Seretny said. The group already has two restaurants in Wroclaw and Gdansk and wants to have a total of five in Poland.
A final decision on the Europlex site could be made by the end of March as JLW expects to sign the first contracts with tenants for the building by the first quarter. However, the bulk of contracts are likely to be signed between June and September, when Europlex formally opens, Trappes-Lomax said.
Europlex will have 22,500 square meters of rentable space including 15,000 square meters of offices. The rest will house retail and a multiplex cinema with about 1,700 seats, JLW said.
Canadian developer arrives
Toronto-based real estate firm TrizecHahn will include Poland in its $500 million plan to develop 30 to 50 shopping and entertainment centers in Central and Southern Europe within two to three years.
TrizecHahn, which claims to be the largest Canadian real estate firm, so far skipped Poland in its European expansion, investing instead in East Germany, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. But recently the firm has begun to realize that Poland is an interesting market. "Suddenly Poland is very important to us," said Philip Jones, development director of TrizecHahn in Europe.
Like every other retail developer, TrizecHahn finds Poland's demographics appealing. "(Retailers) are very excited about it," he said.
TrizecHahn's first European venture was in East Germany in 1991. The company last year decided to branch out and invest $500 million in retail throughout Europe.
"The area is very valuable, but the investment needed is significant," Cislo said. He refused to detail how large a stake the investor may take or how much money may go into a project. Cislo said that it was difficult to estimate the size of a possible investment because the Skra project was the first of its type and scale in Warsaw.
But officials with Skra expect the project - which will enable an investor to gain 10 hectares of land in central Warsaw that can be used for a wide range of commercial developments - to attract significant interest. Skra Director Adam Medrzycki said that the land alone could be worth as much as $200 million, and the overall investment could top $500 million. That size would make the investment larger than developer Tishman Speyer's massive commercial complex slated for Krakow, the first phase of which is expected to cost around $300 million.
"Ten hectares of land in downtown Warsaw is a lot. It's a big asset," he said. The state-owned Skra sports club has 20 hectares of land available for long-term lease located at the intersection of ulicas Zwirki i Wigury and Wawelska between central Warsaw and Okecie airport. Skra's property includes sports facilities that were built in 1953 and have never been renovated. The facilities consist of two outdoor stadiums, six outdoor swimming pools and small fields for other games such as tennis, basketball and volleyball, said Medrzycki.
The city's plan calls for an investor to get 10 hectares of land that could be developed commercially in exchange for constructing a new, full-sized stadium, sports and exhibition building as well as a swimming complex. Of the 10 hectares, only 40% can be built on, Cislo said. Hotel, retail or even offices could go on the site, he added.
"It's a very attractive location, like anything along the line between the airport and downtown," said Marceli Krol, president of Global Hotels Development, which is building Holiday Inn hotels in Poland.
He said Global Hotels actually looked at Skra's properties in early 1997 but walked away because of delays in land acquisition and the large amount of money that would have to be spent on recreation facilities.
"We have a mandate for investments in hotels," Krol said. Even if the development does spark intense interest, it is unlikely anything will happen before 2001, Cislo said. He said the tender procedures and negotiations will take about one year, while the project phase could easily take another year.
T.G.I. Friday's goes to Europlex
T.G.I. Friday's plans to locate it's second and probably last Warsaw restaurant in Europlex, a retail and office building under construction on ulica Pulawska.
T.G.I. signed a letter of intent with Jones Lang Wootton (JLW), exclusive agent for the $55 million Europlex complex being developed by Polish-Austrian developer Kinomax and Austria's Bawag Bank. While T.G.I. is negotiating, nothing is signed yet. "There are no contracts in place yet," said Simon Trappes-Lomax, an agent with JLW.
"It's not 100% secured yet," said Marek Seretny, marketing director with American Bistro Poland, which has the franchise for T.G.I. Friday's.
If the Europlex location goes ahead, it will be T.G.I. Friday's second location in Warsaw after its restaurant at the Atrium Plaza on Aleja Jana Pawla II. It would also probably be its last, as the American chain only wants to have two full-size restaurants in Warsaw. If it does decide to open a third restaurant, it will most likely be a much smaller bistro, Seretny said. The group already has two restaurants in Wroclaw and Gdansk and wants to have a total of five in Poland.
A final decision on the Europlex site could be made by the end of March as JLW expects to sign the first contracts with tenants for the building by the first quarter. However, the bulk of contracts are likely to be signed between June and September, when Europlex formally opens, Trappes-Lomax said.
Europlex will have 22,500 square meters of rentable space including 15,000 square meters of offices. The rest will house retail and a multiplex cinema with about 1,700 seats, JLW said.
Canadian developer arrives
Toronto-based real estate firm TrizecHahn will include Poland in its $500 million plan to develop 30 to 50 shopping and entertainment centers in Central and Southern Europe within two to three years.
TrizecHahn, which claims to be the largest Canadian real estate firm, so far skipped Poland in its European expansion, investing instead in East Germany, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. But recently the firm has begun to realize that Poland is an interesting market. "Suddenly Poland is very important to us," said Philip Jones, development director of TrizecHahn in Europe.
Like every other retail developer, TrizecHahn finds Poland's demographics appealing. "(Retailers) are very excited about it," he said.
TrizecHahn's first European venture was in East Germany in 1991. The company last year decided to branch out and invest $500 million in retail throughout Europe.
