From the editor

Its writers, sports personalities and businessmen have all made an impression in Europe and beyond. Now, in this region, the Irish are becoming some of the most prolific investors in real estate and are employing all their renowned networking skills very effectively, even if they aren't so eager to reveal their identities. Not that there is anything sinister about this: they are just individuals out to spend their money on property, not court publicity. Padraic Coll of KeyInvest, a company established to assist these investors in finding the right product, was, however, willing to talk to Lokale and he gave us an invaluable insight into what they are planning to do next with their cash. As Mr Coll is well aware, however, finding the right product to invest in can be the most demanding task when trying to acquire property in Poland at the moment. That is why investors are having to 'think outside the box' a lot more than before and take risks in uncharted waters. Austrian investors have plenty of experience on the Polish market and arguably have pioneered transactions in the very young industrial market here. The Vienna-based Akron has only just arrived in this country, however, and made the headlines earlier this month with its purchase of three properties in Warsaw, which were developed by the Ghelamco Group. One of these was a warehouse and Akron will be adding more of this type of building to its portfolio in the coming years, according to Stefan Ausch, who is CEO of its Central European fund. The office market will be a lesser concern and Akron has no plans to inject cash into the retail market here. With attractive yields still very possible in the warehouse market in Poland, the Austrians' strategy makes plenty of sense. The news that the planned new terminal at Kraków's Balice Airport has almost certainly found an investor, in the form of the New Zealand partnership Morrison & Co/Infratil, could mark the birth of a new breed of airport design in Poland. The terminal will cater for passengers flying with budget airlines and will be a fitting monument to the new era Poland is about to enter. News just in is that the clothes retailer Artman is to open ninety of its 'House' stores in Poland over the next two to three years. Forty-five of the shops will be owned by the firm and the other half will be franchised. Artman will attempt to raise around zł.25-30 million via a share flotation on the stock exchange, which it will use for this new investment.