Forum Gliwice breaks ground

The retail center will be located in the heart of Gliwice and the project is led by Danish firm Braaten+Pedersen, which specializes in city-center investments.

The center is taking shape between ul. Traugutta, Witkiewicza, Opolska and Lipowa close to the PKP railway station. It will cost EUR 75 (zł.293) million, and will be co-financed by the Norwegian group Borgestad ASA and GE Capital Golub.

When completed the retail space of 46,000 sqm will house 140 shops, a Carrefour supermarket, restaurants, cafes, 15 cinema facilities owned by Cinema City and a sports and leisure center. The complex is scheduled to be opened in March 2007 and should employ around 1,200 people. "On the basis of the contracts signed, intention letters and advanced negotiations with tenants, we can already talk about 60 percent of the complex being commercialized," said Marek Noetzel from property consultants Cushman & Wakefield Healey & Baker, which is the leasing agent for the project.

"I'm glad we've managed to obtain the necessary agreements and start with the construction as we'd planned," said Jan Olav Braaten, the director of Braaten+Pedersen.

"I'm convinced that Forum, being the first of this type of investment in Gliwice, will bring positive effects reflected in increased city attractiveness and greater comfort for its inhabitants," he added.

The center is the first commercial complex to be located in the exact city center in Gliwice, says the developer.