Echo and Hoyts dig into cinema plans with first lodz multiplex
Scheduled to open in early 2000, the 10-screen theater in lodz will be part of a three-building hotel, leisure and commercial complex Echo is developing in the city's center.
In addition to the lodz cinema, Echo and Hoyts also plan to build three multiplexes in Warsaw, as well as one in Szczecin, Gdansk, Wroclaw, Krakow and possibly Poznan, said Michal Solowow, chairman of Echo Investment.
"These theaters will be located in every large city in Poland," he said.
But he said the Poznan theater may be slow going because the group is having difficulty finding a location.
Despite the site challenges, an executive with the group says the long-standing Polish love of film makes him optimistic about investing in cinemas here.
"We see huge opportunity in the Polish market," said Raymond Smith, managing director of Hoyts Cinemas Europe.
Smith also thinks that more Poles will go to the movies as new cinemas pop up. He said that Poles go out to see a film an average of less than once a year, while Europeans go 1.7 times. That compares to the five visits per year in the United States.
One reason for that, he said, is that major cities lack comfortable theaters. In Warsaw, for example, there is only one quasi-multiplex: Femina.
"There is no state-of-the-art multiplex in Poland presently," he said. "In five to 10 years Warsaw will have at least six multiplexes."
Saski Point breaks ground
More than six months after the first bricks of the new office building Saski Point were supposed to be laid, construction workers in June broke ground on the new complex in central Warsaw.
Protests by local residents had managed to stall the $25 million project for half a year. The protests forced developer AIG/Lincoln Polska to hold off on purchasing land for the site. The company only went ahead and bought the property from Wars Holding after resident objections had been smoothed.
"Initially we planned to start construction in autumn last year," said Brian Patterson, managing director of AIG/Lincoln Polska.
The 13,000 square-meter project now is slated to be completed by the fall of 1999. AIG/Lincoln already has an anchor tenant for the building; the group signed a lease with French bank Societe Generale for three-quarters of the building.
Moving into Saski Point will enable Societe Generale to consolidate the many offices it has scattered around town into one location.
Saski Point is AIG/Lincoln's third investment in Poland; the company has previously focused on light industrial projects such as the Diamond Business Park and Diamond Business Park-lodz.
Mall nabs first lease
Norwegian developer Pol Nordic Group signed the first lease for its $35 million commercial center, the Sadyba Best Mall, which is currently under construction.
The group signed a 20-year lease for 3,000 square meters of space with unnamed foreign investors interested in building a $2 million multiplex cinema there, said Irena Daniluk, public relations adviser to Pol Nordic Group.
The investor, whose name Pol Nordic refuses to disclose until July, will build a 10-screen, 2,000-seat cinema in the mall located in southern Warsaw. The group estimates that 1 million customers will visit the cinema each year.
The multiplex deal is the first lease for the mall, which will be completed in late 1999. The center will contain 30,000 square meters of commercial space and 10,000 meters of underground parking space. In addition to housing a variety of shops, services, and restaurants, the mall will also sport a fitness center and medical clinic, Daniluk said.
Sadyba Best Mall is the first of several malls of its type to be developed by Pol Nordic Group in Poland's major cities. The group's other projects here include a $2 million commercial mall in southeast Warsaw, the Torunska Center, and the $15 million office building, Nordic Park, in the Powisle district.
Merger move
Germany's Bayerische Vereinsbank signed a pre-lease agreement with real estate firm DTZ Debenham Zadelhoff for all of building C in the Wisniowy Business Park office complex.
Vereinsbank's will occupy 6,000 square meters of office space, which will be ready by October, together with Germany's Hypobank, said Anna Kwiatkowska, manager of advertising and marketing for DTZ. The two banks merged in Germany and have decided to also move in together here. The headquarters for the new merged bank will be in building C, which will accommodate 600 people, Kwiatkowska said.
DTZ would not reveal the duration of the lease contract, but Kwiatkowska said it was for longer than five years.
Building C is the third of four, 6,000 square-meter buildings planned for the Wisniowy Business Park. IBM and Sony are already tenants in building A, and ABN Amro Bank is moving later this summer into building B. Building D will not be completed until early next year, but DTZ said it has already signed a letter of intent with an unnamed company to lease more than 4,000 square meters of space.
The Wisniowy Business Park is being developed by Wisniowy developments, which is co-owned by the U.K's Chelverton International and Australia's Lend Lease.
Although DTZ would not reveal how much the tenants will pay per square meter, Kwiatkowska said that Wisniowy, which is located near the Okecie airport, is less expensive than office space downtown. The starting price in Wisniowy is $32 per square meter per month, while the more centrally located Pulawska Financial Center charges $35, she added.
In addition to the lodz cinema, Echo and Hoyts also plan to build three multiplexes in Warsaw, as well as one in Szczecin, Gdansk, Wroclaw, Krakow and possibly Poznan, said Michal Solowow, chairman of Echo Investment.
"These theaters will be located in every large city in Poland," he said.
But he said the Poznan theater may be slow going because the group is having difficulty finding a location.
Despite the site challenges, an executive with the group says the long-standing Polish love of film makes him optimistic about investing in cinemas here.
"We see huge opportunity in the Polish market," said Raymond Smith, managing director of Hoyts Cinemas Europe.
Smith also thinks that more Poles will go to the movies as new cinemas pop up. He said that Poles go out to see a film an average of less than once a year, while Europeans go 1.7 times. That compares to the five visits per year in the United States.
One reason for that, he said, is that major cities lack comfortable theaters. In Warsaw, for example, there is only one quasi-multiplex: Femina.
"There is no state-of-the-art multiplex in Poland presently," he said. "In five to 10 years Warsaw will have at least six multiplexes."
Saski Point breaks ground
More than six months after the first bricks of the new office building Saski Point were supposed to be laid, construction workers in June broke ground on the new complex in central Warsaw.
Protests by local residents had managed to stall the $25 million project for half a year. The protests forced developer AIG/Lincoln Polska to hold off on purchasing land for the site. The company only went ahead and bought the property from Wars Holding after resident objections had been smoothed.
"Initially we planned to start construction in autumn last year," said Brian Patterson, managing director of AIG/Lincoln Polska.
The 13,000 square-meter project now is slated to be completed by the fall of 1999. AIG/Lincoln already has an anchor tenant for the building; the group signed a lease with French bank Societe Generale for three-quarters of the building.
Moving into Saski Point will enable Societe Generale to consolidate the many offices it has scattered around town into one location.
Saski Point is AIG/Lincoln's third investment in Poland; the company has previously focused on light industrial projects such as the Diamond Business Park and Diamond Business Park-lodz.
Mall nabs first lease
Norwegian developer Pol Nordic Group signed the first lease for its $35 million commercial center, the Sadyba Best Mall, which is currently under construction.
The group signed a 20-year lease for 3,000 square meters of space with unnamed foreign investors interested in building a $2 million multiplex cinema there, said Irena Daniluk, public relations adviser to Pol Nordic Group.
The investor, whose name Pol Nordic refuses to disclose until July, will build a 10-screen, 2,000-seat cinema in the mall located in southern Warsaw. The group estimates that 1 million customers will visit the cinema each year.
The multiplex deal is the first lease for the mall, which will be completed in late 1999. The center will contain 30,000 square meters of commercial space and 10,000 meters of underground parking space. In addition to housing a variety of shops, services, and restaurants, the mall will also sport a fitness center and medical clinic, Daniluk said.
Sadyba Best Mall is the first of several malls of its type to be developed by Pol Nordic Group in Poland's major cities. The group's other projects here include a $2 million commercial mall in southeast Warsaw, the Torunska Center, and the $15 million office building, Nordic Park, in the Powisle district.
Merger move
Germany's Bayerische Vereinsbank signed a pre-lease agreement with real estate firm DTZ Debenham Zadelhoff for all of building C in the Wisniowy Business Park office complex.
Vereinsbank's will occupy 6,000 square meters of office space, which will be ready by October, together with Germany's Hypobank, said Anna Kwiatkowska, manager of advertising and marketing for DTZ. The two banks merged in Germany and have decided to also move in together here. The headquarters for the new merged bank will be in building C, which will accommodate 600 people, Kwiatkowska said.
DTZ would not reveal the duration of the lease contract, but Kwiatkowska said it was for longer than five years.
Building C is the third of four, 6,000 square-meter buildings planned for the Wisniowy Business Park. IBM and Sony are already tenants in building A, and ABN Amro Bank is moving later this summer into building B. Building D will not be completed until early next year, but DTZ said it has already signed a letter of intent with an unnamed company to lease more than 4,000 square meters of space.
The Wisniowy Business Park is being developed by Wisniowy developments, which is co-owned by the U.K's Chelverton International and Australia's Lend Lease.
Although DTZ would not reveal how much the tenants will pay per square meter, Kwiatkowska said that Wisniowy, which is located near the Okecie airport, is less expensive than office space downtown. The starting price in Wisniowy is $32 per square meter per month, while the more centrally located Pulawska Financial Center charges $35, she added.
