KPMG reveals plan to move to Daewoo tower
The company earlier this month informed its staff that it plans to leave its current offices in the LIM Center and move house to the Warsaw Trade Tower, sources close to the company said.
Although a deal is not yet finalized, KPMG could take up to 7,000 square meters in the tower being developed by Dae-Pol, one of Daewoo's Polish subsidiaries. KPMG had appointed the Henry Butcher real estate agency to advise on a search for 7,000 square meters of office space, the agency said earlier this year.
KPMG would not comment on the Daewoo tower move, nor would it confirm that an inter-office information memorandum was sent to employees. Officials would only say that a public announcement on KPMG's office relocation plan would be made soon. Y.C. Park, Daewoo's marketing manager, also refused to comment on the deal saying only not until "sometime in the future."
Daewoo is a major audit client of KPMG and that likely played a role in attracting the Big Five firm to the tower, said Richard Sexton, head of the agency department at Knight Frank Nieruchomo¶ci. "The relationships between clients heavily influenced the decision," Sexton said.
It's not clear, however, if KPMG will continue to benefit from Daewoo's account. Korea-based Daewoo, which is heavily debt ridden, agreed with creditors to sell all but its automotive-related subsidiaries.
The pledge to sell off non-auto activities has cast a shadow over the future of Daewoo's Polish operations. In addition to passenger cars, Daewoo here is active in truck and diesel engine manufacturing, electronics and real estate.
Daewoo said however that its problems in Korea would not affect development of the Warsaw Trade Tower. "There is no influence at all," Y.C. Park said.
Construction of the Warsaw Trade Tower was majority financed through local bank loans and is scheduled for completion next month.
Regus expands
Regus, which specializes in renting outfitted office centers, has started searching for locations outside Warsaw and plans to open its first center beyond the capital next year, the company said.
"We have three cities under consideration: Poznań, Krakow and Gdynia," said Jerry Gorzko, sales and marketing manager at the Polish unit of Regus.
Regus, the U.K.-based firm, already has three office centers in Warsaw including locations in the Sheraton Hotel, Atrium Plaza and Warsaw Financial Center.
Regus, which calls itself a provider of "instant office solutions," typically leases space in class-A buildings, organizing the space into smaller office units equipped with full facilities, including computers, telecom options and conference rooms. Typical customers are companies leasing space for short periods of time, including large multinational companies starting new businesses who don't yet need or want a full-time office.
Regus's expansion strategy in the rest of the country calls for development of five office centers in Warsaw and two centers in every large city beyond the capital, Gorzko said. The company has recently started searching for locations in its target cities, he said. "We are talking to a couple of buildings there," Gorzko added.
Regus, whose Warsaw office centers range from 1,500 to 2,000 square meters, will look to lease 1,300-1,500 square meters in these new cities. The company usually invests from $500,000-$1.5 million to open a new center, depending on the cost of leasing space, Gorzko said.
Regus has chosen Poznań, Krakow and Gdynia first because it believes that these cities have the highest amount of business and investment interest outside of Warsaw, Gorzko said. Poznań is attractive because of the city's reputation as a center for trade fairs and its proximity to Germany, he said. Regus is attracted to Krakow because the city could serve as a head office for businesses operating in Poland, Slovakia and Ukraine, he added. Gdynia is interesting because it is part of the developing Trojmiasto area and additionally will serve as a location for NATO naval personnel, Gorzko said.
In the longer term, Regus would also scout Wrocław and Silesia, with Katowice or Tychy possible locations, Gorzko said. The company however hasn't started a search for space in those locations yet, he said.
Property sources confirmed that Regus was on the lookout for new space. In Poznań, for example, the Poznań Financial Center office building scheduled to open next year received a request from Regus to present a lease offer, said Sexton of Knight Frank Nieruchomo¶ci, which is marketing the building. Having Regus as a tenant is attractive to landlords because the company targets small-scale clients, allowing the landlord to focus on finding larger, anchor tenants, Sexton said.
In brief:
Project management firm Mace International is organizing construction of light industrial and office space for Lynka, a Krakow-based maker of screen printed clothing, Mace International said in a press release last week. Lynka is looking to build a complex in Krakow that would include 3,100 square meters of factory space and 600 square meters of office space, the UK-based project manager said. Construction is estimated to cost L1 million ($1.6 million) and could begin before the end of the month, Mace said. "It is refreshing to be working in such a highly developed and competitive construction market with such a dynamic client," said Stuart Walker, head of Mace International in Krakow, in a statement.
Although a deal is not yet finalized, KPMG could take up to 7,000 square meters in the tower being developed by Dae-Pol, one of Daewoo's Polish subsidiaries. KPMG had appointed the Henry Butcher real estate agency to advise on a search for 7,000 square meters of office space, the agency said earlier this year.
KPMG would not comment on the Daewoo tower move, nor would it confirm that an inter-office information memorandum was sent to employees. Officials would only say that a public announcement on KPMG's office relocation plan would be made soon. Y.C. Park, Daewoo's marketing manager, also refused to comment on the deal saying only not until "sometime in the future."
Daewoo is a major audit client of KPMG and that likely played a role in attracting the Big Five firm to the tower, said Richard Sexton, head of the agency department at Knight Frank Nieruchomo¶ci. "The relationships between clients heavily influenced the decision," Sexton said.
It's not clear, however, if KPMG will continue to benefit from Daewoo's account. Korea-based Daewoo, which is heavily debt ridden, agreed with creditors to sell all but its automotive-related subsidiaries.
The pledge to sell off non-auto activities has cast a shadow over the future of Daewoo's Polish operations. In addition to passenger cars, Daewoo here is active in truck and diesel engine manufacturing, electronics and real estate.
Daewoo said however that its problems in Korea would not affect development of the Warsaw Trade Tower. "There is no influence at all," Y.C. Park said.
Construction of the Warsaw Trade Tower was majority financed through local bank loans and is scheduled for completion next month.
Regus expands
Regus, which specializes in renting outfitted office centers, has started searching for locations outside Warsaw and plans to open its first center beyond the capital next year, the company said.
"We have three cities under consideration: Poznań, Krakow and Gdynia," said Jerry Gorzko, sales and marketing manager at the Polish unit of Regus.
Regus, the U.K.-based firm, already has three office centers in Warsaw including locations in the Sheraton Hotel, Atrium Plaza and Warsaw Financial Center.
Regus, which calls itself a provider of "instant office solutions," typically leases space in class-A buildings, organizing the space into smaller office units equipped with full facilities, including computers, telecom options and conference rooms. Typical customers are companies leasing space for short periods of time, including large multinational companies starting new businesses who don't yet need or want a full-time office.
Regus's expansion strategy in the rest of the country calls for development of five office centers in Warsaw and two centers in every large city beyond the capital, Gorzko said. The company has recently started searching for locations in its target cities, he said. "We are talking to a couple of buildings there," Gorzko added.
Regus, whose Warsaw office centers range from 1,500 to 2,000 square meters, will look to lease 1,300-1,500 square meters in these new cities. The company usually invests from $500,000-$1.5 million to open a new center, depending on the cost of leasing space, Gorzko said.
Regus has chosen Poznań, Krakow and Gdynia first because it believes that these cities have the highest amount of business and investment interest outside of Warsaw, Gorzko said. Poznań is attractive because of the city's reputation as a center for trade fairs and its proximity to Germany, he said. Regus is attracted to Krakow because the city could serve as a head office for businesses operating in Poland, Slovakia and Ukraine, he added. Gdynia is interesting because it is part of the developing Trojmiasto area and additionally will serve as a location for NATO naval personnel, Gorzko said.
In the longer term, Regus would also scout Wrocław and Silesia, with Katowice or Tychy possible locations, Gorzko said. The company however hasn't started a search for space in those locations yet, he said.
Property sources confirmed that Regus was on the lookout for new space. In Poznań, for example, the Poznań Financial Center office building scheduled to open next year received a request from Regus to present a lease offer, said Sexton of Knight Frank Nieruchomo¶ci, which is marketing the building. Having Regus as a tenant is attractive to landlords because the company targets small-scale clients, allowing the landlord to focus on finding larger, anchor tenants, Sexton said.
In brief:
Project management firm Mace International is organizing construction of light industrial and office space for Lynka, a Krakow-based maker of screen printed clothing, Mace International said in a press release last week. Lynka is looking to build a complex in Krakow that would include 3,100 square meters of factory space and 600 square meters of office space, the UK-based project manager said. Construction is estimated to cost L1 million ($1.6 million) and could begin before the end of the month, Mace said. "It is refreshing to be working in such a highly developed and competitive construction market with such a dynamic client," said Stuart Walker, head of Mace International in Krakow, in a statement.
