Cornerstone laid at Reduta extension

The total area of the center, once the extension has been built, will amount to 110,000 square meters. There will be 130 new units at Reduta 2, which will include sixty-five shops, service space and catering facilities. Over fifty percent of the space has already been leased to retailers, such as H&M, with 1,850 square meters, Reserved, with 1,140, Top Secret, with 300, and Cropp (a new Reserved brand), with 224. The developer of the entire Reduta project is the Danish FORAS Holding A/S and is managed by its subsidiary, FORAS Management Poland. Budimex has been appointed as general constructor for the extension and Jones Lang LaSalle the leasing agents. "Our business idea is to focus on, and invest in, shopping centers in growing markets only," Mogens Jorgensen, the director general of the FORAS group, revealed at the press conference preceding the ceremony. "And today, we only have malls in Poland," he continued. These are the Targówek and Reduta centers in the capital and Plejada-Bytom in Silesia. Reduta 2 "will not have a large, impersonal food court, as in a lot of other places," added the group's vice-director general, Ole Christian Vad, who claimed that the extension would offer "cosiness and a variety of small areas where customers can go and relax." The developer, along with Carrefour, its anchor tenant in the existing mall, will also cooperate in the renovation of the nearby WKD commuter railway station, which has the potential, FORAS believe, to service 25,000 passengers a day. This in turn could lead to "further development of the area," according to Vad. Reduta 1 and 2 combined will be bigger than the 60,000 square meter Blue City retail and leisure complex, (standing almost opposite, alongside the busy Jerozolimskie thoroughfare), which is to open on March 31. With traffic passing Reduta on the way from the city center and Blue City towards it, it has been suggested that the Danish development will fare the better of the two, because people rarely stop to do their shopping on their journey to work. However, Renata Kusznierska, Head of Retail at DTZ, which is responsible for leasing at Blue City, doesn't see things that way. Reduta, with its hypermarket anchor, "is a different kind of shopping center," she says, and describes Blue City as "a family center and a destination point for Warsaw," rather than somewhere people will just stop off at. Blue City is to offer new concepts such as a multimedia leisure center and Auto City, a series of car dealerships under one roof, as well as a shopping gallery. Ms Kusznierska claims to be totally relaxed with the 110,000 square meter presence over the road. "We will be very satisfied if Reduta attracts good business. We wish them luck," she says.