Domestic firms to fill vacuum in Swede Center building

By : Anna Staniszewska

   Two companies have taken up space in Swede Center, the 12,000 square-meter office and retail block on Warsaw’s Aleje Jerozolimskie, formerly occupied by Sweden’s Ikea, Getz Travel and the U.S.-based GE Capital Bank.

   Domestic furnishing-products company Home Expo has rented 3,000 square meters, while drugstore chain Euro Apteka has taken up 140 square meters.

   “It wasn’t hard to find the tenants,” said Rhys Jones, who runs Celtic Asset Management, which represented developer Swedeprop. “It’s a prime location and the floor plates are very efficient.”

   Only 200 square meters of the property remain vacant. Rent is DM40 per square meter with DM6.5 service charge.

   Swede Center, completed in 1992, was among Poland’s first modern office blocks, but its A-class rating does not meet standards set by the latest developments in Warsaw, according to Hadley Dean, managing director of Canada’s Colliers International. “Standards have moved forward (since then),” Dean said.

   Major tenants include international accountancy firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), U.S. fast-food giant McDonald’s, Sweden’s Vattenfall and U.K.-based Nicholson International. PwC will move within the next 18 months, but the marketing of its 3,000 square meters has yet to start. “It’s too early to look for new tenants,” Jones said.

   PwC has already signed a deal to occupy 8,000 square meters in Warsaw’s International Business Center office complex at the intersection of Aleja Armii Ludowej and ulica Polna. The project will have 35,000 square meters of space when completed.

   Another Qubus buyout in Wrocław

   Norwegian-based hotel chain Qubus Hotel Management has bought the 83-room Maria Magdalena hotel in Wrocław. “It was a good deal for both sides,” said Steffen Okland, president of Qubus, who refused to disclose the price.

   However, according to calculations by Marceli K. Król, general director of Global Hotel Development Group Poland, the deal is likely to be worth $3.7 million-$4.15 million.

   “The Wrocław market is tough, but this hotel is popular among businesspeople,” Okland said.

   Prior to the Wrocław purchase, Qubus bought the 250-room Cuprum Hotel in Legnica, a 150-room hotel in Głogów, a 160-room hotel in Wałbrzych and a 60-room hotel in Złotoryja. Okland said he is now looking at locations in Upper Silesia.

   In brief:

   n Developers GE Capital Golub Europe, a subsidiary of U.S.-based GE Capital Real Estate and Golub & Co., recently held a ground-breaking ceremony for the $85 million International Business Center.

   The complex’s initial, nine-story building will have 16,000 square meters of office and 1,500 square meters of retail space, including a three-level underground parking lot for 267 cars. Austria’s Erste Bank der Oesterreichichen Sparkassen and U.S.-based property fund Heitman International is backing the project. Australian architect Denton Corker Marshall designed the complex. Golub’s rent will range from E29 to E31, plus the service charge of E6 - E8.

   n Centrum Millenium has completed another 1,600 square meters for rent. A company called Morgenpresse has taken 1,600 square meters in the 15,300 square-meter project developed by Platan Group at the intersection of ulicas Targowa and Kijowska in Warsaw’s Praga district. The U.K.’s King Sturge property consultancy represented the investor in the deal. The building is 75% leased.

   n U.K.-based Boots Healthcare Polska, a pharmaceutical trading company, is the first tenant in the Platan Park II scheme. The company leased 550 square meters of office and 80 square meters of industrial space in Polish Platan Group’s development, on ulica Poleczki in Warsaw. Rent is $16 per square meter plus a $3.50 service charge. Warehouse space runs $6.75 per square meter with a $1.25 service charge. Anglo-American consultancy Jones Lang LaSalle acted on the landlord’s behalf. Platan Park II follows the Platan Park I project, opened in 1999.