Daepol secures financing to complete Warsaw Trade Tower
Daepol, owned by the Korean Daewoo Corp., plans to complete the development of its $120 million Warsaw Trade Tower office skyscraper by the end of August, a year later than initially projected.
"We will formally open Sept. 1," said Hoon Chung, Daepol's marketing director.
Daepol had intended to complete the building, which is located on the corner of ulica Towarowa and ulica Chlodna in the Wola district, last September. But that plan was compromised when Daepol's main shareholder, Daewoo, ran into financial problems and was unable to come through with the $9 million needed to complete the 42-story building's interior.
Having a finished interior was crucial to attracting tenants such as KPMG, a consultancy that last year signed a deal to take 6,000 square meters on five floors in the building.
The completion of the interior became possible when Daewoo and local banks agreed to split the required $9 million in financing. "We finalized the matter of financing by the end of June," Chung said.
The money will allow Daepol to complete the fit out of KPMG's offices. "We will have our first tenants by the end of August," he said.
But KPMG is also the sole tenant in the building, which has a total of 33,850 square meters of office space and 4,700 square meters of retail space, Chung said. Daepol wasn't able to sign more tenants because the financing shortfall led to a marketing activity freeze. Now the company has resumed its marketing and hired Healey & Baker as the lead agent for the building, he said. The asking rent is $28 per square meter a month. Daepol plans to lease out the entire building within a year, Chung added.
Having raised financing, Daepol is no longer constrained to sell the building. Some property insiders had said earlier that disposing of the building before it was leased was Daepol's best option. "That was history, we are not considering selling the building now," Chung said.
Zepter enters real estate biz
Zepter Poland, the local unit of a Switzerland-based steel housewares producer, plans to lease more than 13,000 square meters in its Zepter Business Center, said Nigal Wade, an agent with CB Richard Ellis, the company marketing the building.
Zepter is planning to occupy about 5,500 square meters in the 19,000 square-meter office complex, which is under construction on ulica Domaniewska in Mokotow, Wade said.
CB Richard Ellis has the exclusive right to market the building's remaining 13,500 square meters, he said. The assignment is CB Richard Ellis' first since it began operating in Warsaw after acquiring Henry Butcher earlier this summer, Wade said.
Zepter, which is currently leasing office space on ulica Bobrowiecka, will likely be successful in renting out the Zepter Business Center since the demand for high-quality office space away from downtown is strong especially in the Mokotow district, he said. He added that the center will have all the amenities of a top-class office building, including a Warsaw rarity: air conditioning with humidity control.
Wade wouldn't reveal asking rents but said they were likely to be slightly above $20 per square meter. The center, which is being built by Mitex, is planned for completion in the first quarter of 2001, he said.
Catholic TV deal fills up Ilmet
Telewizja Familijna, which is planning to launch a Catholic TV station, has leased one floor (700 square meters) in the Ilmet office building at Rondo ONZ in central Warsaw, said Jones Lang LaSalle, the agency representing Ilmet in the deal.
The agreement, which was signed in June but is effective from July onward, lowered the vacancy rate in Ilmet to about 2%, according to a marketing official at the Ilmet company, which owns the building.
Developed in 1996, the 19,000 square-meter Ilmet had since lost the majority of its early clients, such as Allianz, which divested itself of its 2,000 square meters late last year.
But the landlord's willingness to offer small offices for short periods of time has allowed the building to once again approach full occupancy, said the Ilmet official. Ilmet's asking rent per square meter is DM 64 a month plus a DM 9 management fee.
That same flexibility, however, could also lead to rapidly fluctuating occupancy rates. Telewizja Familijna leased Ilmet's third floor for only a year. The short-term contract gives the company the option to vacate the building quickly should it need more space.
In brief:
Apollo-Rida Poland confirmed that mobile phone operator PTK Centertel (Idea) leased 10,000 square meters in its newly developed 18,000 square-meter Renaissance Tower office building on ulica Kasprzaka. The deal is Warsaw's biggest office lease of 2000.
Dom Inwestycyjny BRE Bank leased 2,244 square meters in the Wspolna building, developed by Mahler Project, said the agency representing the landlord in the deal. The brokerage house will occupy the 5th and 6th floors of the building, which is located on ulica Wspolna, as well as part of the retail ground floor, Couderq & Kubas Oncor International said. The deal lowers the vacancy in Wspolna which has 7,200 square meters of office space to less than 50%. Other tenants include life insurer Royal PBK, which has 1,065 square meters, and IT firm Novell, which has 500 square meters, Couderq & Kubas said.
Adidas Poland, a producer and distributor of sports products, leased 1,200 square meters of office space in the Kolmet building on ulica Olbrachta in the Wola district, said Jones Lang LaSalle, which represented the landlord, Kolmet Nieruchomosci, in the deal.
Pharmaceutical company Polfa Kutno signed a five-year lease for 727 square meters of office space in the phase-D Jerozolimskie Business Park building on Aleje Jerozolimskie in Warsaw, said Healey & Baker, which acted on behalf of the landlord, Liebrecht & Wood.
