Les Tours developer acquires adjacent site, plans second bld.
BRC, which is owned by unnamed Western insurance companies, has been building the 55,000-square-meter Les Tours building since this past May. The site is located at the crossing of Jana Pawla and Grzybowska street. The adjacent site gives BRC 2,700 square meters next to the project, said Mariusz Zakrzewski, president of TSP Management Polska, the project manager for Les Tours.
BRC has not yet decided if it will construct an office building or hotel on the site, which is near the Hotel Mercure. Zakrzewski said the company will decide on a final use within a month.
The new project will mark BRC's second investment in Warsaw. Les Tours, its first and so far only project, is expected to be completed by the first quarter of 2000. Some property professionals have questioned whether the company will meet this deadline, saying construction at the site has visibly slowed in recent weeks.
But according to those involved with Les Tours, there are no problems and the schedule will be adhered to. "The pace is as it should be, the schedule is being maintained," said Teresa Furst, president of Warsaw Realties, a BRC subsidiary that will be the marketing agent for the building.
The cost of the building has not been revealed but Zakrzewski said it's not far off the average $1,000-$1,300 per square meter construction cost in Warsaw.
The 25-story building will have 55,000 square meters of total office space and four levels of underground.
Leaving FIM
The law firm of Cameron McKenna has decided to pull up its stakes from the FIM Tower and move Dec. 6 to the Warsaw Financial Center in a relocation aimed at getting larger, more concentrated space.
"We need more space," said Steven Shone, a partner with the law firm. Cameron McKenna now occupies four floors spread throughout the FIM Tower. The firm originally moved to the FIM Tower when it had 15 lawyers and only needed to rent one floor. But as the firm grew, it now has 64 lawyers and total staff of more than 100, it had to rent three more floors.
In the Warsaw Financial Center, which will officially open in December, the law firm will occupy one, 2,000-square-meter floor. This will represent a 25% increase over its present space, Shone said.
And space, not price, was key to the firm's decision to move, he said. "It's not a question of costs," Shone said. "It's a question of quality and the requirement to have the firm together."
However, the FIM Tower, which is in the heart of the city on Aleje Jerozolimskie across from the Marriott Hotel, is considered to be one of the most expensive buildings in Warsaw. Property industry members estimate that a square meter in the building rents for $50.
Cameron McKenna's current space "was rented when there was a lack of quality office space in Warsaw," Shone said. But he would not reveal any details on how much the law firm is paying in the FIM Tower or what it is going to pay in the Warsaw Financial Center.
Property players said the Warsaw Financial Center is listing space at $42-$44 a square meter. Shone said that the law firm could have negotiated a lower price with the FIM Tower because its contract is expiring. But the firm decided to move anyway. "The quality of the space will be much better (in the Warsaw Financial Center)," he said.
U.S.-U.K. merger
Healey & Baker is hoping that its recent linkage with U.S.-based real estate consultancy Cushman & Wakefield (C&W) will allow it to better service U.S. and Asian clients in Central Europe.
C&W is particularly strong in the Americas and Asia. The U.S. company last week paid $112 million for an undisclosed, but more than 50%, stake in U.K.-based Healey & Baker, which operates in Europe and the Middle East.
Sheila Gunn, a public relations manager with Healey & Baker in London, said the transaction is not a takeover but rather a merger. Healey & Baker in turn paid $39.2 million for an undisclosed stake in C&W.
The merger will create a more than $610 million (revenue) a year company with C&W generating $500 million annually and the remainder coming from Healey & Baker, the latter company said.
Healey & Baker will continue operating in Poland under its own name. But the company hopes to offer "streamlined" service to Japanese and American clients.
Zloty-based rent
Some developers here have found solace in the dollar-based rents they charge renters in the wake of August's currency turmoil. But at least one company is starting to buck the dollar-based status quo.
(By the way, an alert real estate professional was quick to point out last week after our recent cover story on dollar-based rent protection that more and more developers are choosing to charge in deutsche marks. And pretty soon Warsaw may see Euro-denominated rents.)
Unibud Development, a company created in May as a subsidiary of construction firm Unibud, set a price list in zlotys for its first development, a residential complex in lomianki, north of Warsaw.
Why is Unibud charging in zlotys when every other landlord in Warsaw fixes prices in foreign currencies?
"We build from Polish materials, the contract is Polish, we are not dependent on foreign currencies," said Robert Mical, president of Unibud Development.
Unibud will charge customers zl. 325,000-zl. 359,000 for a 112-square-meter house. The price level will depend on the size of the yard that goes with the dwelling.
And while the currency markets have been on a roller coaster ride in recent weeks, Unibud does not plan to change its prices before the end of the year, Mical said. Unibud plans to build 17 houses located on a 5,200-square-meter site acquired for zl. 600,000, he added.
Unibud hopes to get permission to begin construction in October and then will sign contracts with customers. "We hope that the price will remain the same, which will make the offer even more attractive," said Mieczyslaw Rozbicki, president of New Realty, the agent that will market Unibud's houses.
BRC has not yet decided if it will construct an office building or hotel on the site, which is near the Hotel Mercure. Zakrzewski said the company will decide on a final use within a month.
The new project will mark BRC's second investment in Warsaw. Les Tours, its first and so far only project, is expected to be completed by the first quarter of 2000. Some property professionals have questioned whether the company will meet this deadline, saying construction at the site has visibly slowed in recent weeks.
But according to those involved with Les Tours, there are no problems and the schedule will be adhered to. "The pace is as it should be, the schedule is being maintained," said Teresa Furst, president of Warsaw Realties, a BRC subsidiary that will be the marketing agent for the building.
The cost of the building has not been revealed but Zakrzewski said it's not far off the average $1,000-$1,300 per square meter construction cost in Warsaw.
The 25-story building will have 55,000 square meters of total office space and four levels of underground.
Leaving FIM
The law firm of Cameron McKenna has decided to pull up its stakes from the FIM Tower and move Dec. 6 to the Warsaw Financial Center in a relocation aimed at getting larger, more concentrated space.
"We need more space," said Steven Shone, a partner with the law firm. Cameron McKenna now occupies four floors spread throughout the FIM Tower. The firm originally moved to the FIM Tower when it had 15 lawyers and only needed to rent one floor. But as the firm grew, it now has 64 lawyers and total staff of more than 100, it had to rent three more floors.
In the Warsaw Financial Center, which will officially open in December, the law firm will occupy one, 2,000-square-meter floor. This will represent a 25% increase over its present space, Shone said.
And space, not price, was key to the firm's decision to move, he said. "It's not a question of costs," Shone said. "It's a question of quality and the requirement to have the firm together."
However, the FIM Tower, which is in the heart of the city on Aleje Jerozolimskie across from the Marriott Hotel, is considered to be one of the most expensive buildings in Warsaw. Property industry members estimate that a square meter in the building rents for $50.
Cameron McKenna's current space "was rented when there was a lack of quality office space in Warsaw," Shone said. But he would not reveal any details on how much the law firm is paying in the FIM Tower or what it is going to pay in the Warsaw Financial Center.
Property players said the Warsaw Financial Center is listing space at $42-$44 a square meter. Shone said that the law firm could have negotiated a lower price with the FIM Tower because its contract is expiring. But the firm decided to move anyway. "The quality of the space will be much better (in the Warsaw Financial Center)," he said.
U.S.-U.K. merger
Healey & Baker is hoping that its recent linkage with U.S.-based real estate consultancy Cushman & Wakefield (C&W) will allow it to better service U.S. and Asian clients in Central Europe.
C&W is particularly strong in the Americas and Asia. The U.S. company last week paid $112 million for an undisclosed, but more than 50%, stake in U.K.-based Healey & Baker, which operates in Europe and the Middle East.
Sheila Gunn, a public relations manager with Healey & Baker in London, said the transaction is not a takeover but rather a merger. Healey & Baker in turn paid $39.2 million for an undisclosed stake in C&W.
The merger will create a more than $610 million (revenue) a year company with C&W generating $500 million annually and the remainder coming from Healey & Baker, the latter company said.
Healey & Baker will continue operating in Poland under its own name. But the company hopes to offer "streamlined" service to Japanese and American clients.
Zloty-based rent
Some developers here have found solace in the dollar-based rents they charge renters in the wake of August's currency turmoil. But at least one company is starting to buck the dollar-based status quo.
(By the way, an alert real estate professional was quick to point out last week after our recent cover story on dollar-based rent protection that more and more developers are choosing to charge in deutsche marks. And pretty soon Warsaw may see Euro-denominated rents.)
Unibud Development, a company created in May as a subsidiary of construction firm Unibud, set a price list in zlotys for its first development, a residential complex in lomianki, north of Warsaw.
Why is Unibud charging in zlotys when every other landlord in Warsaw fixes prices in foreign currencies?
"We build from Polish materials, the contract is Polish, we are not dependent on foreign currencies," said Robert Mical, president of Unibud Development.
Unibud will charge customers zl. 325,000-zl. 359,000 for a 112-square-meter house. The price level will depend on the size of the yard that goes with the dwelling.
And while the currency markets have been on a roller coaster ride in recent weeks, Unibud does not plan to change its prices before the end of the year, Mical said. Unibud plans to build 17 houses located on a 5,200-square-meter site acquired for zl. 600,000, he added.
Unibud hopes to get permission to begin construction in October and then will sign contracts with customers. "We hope that the price will remain the same, which will make the offer even more attractive," said Mieczyslaw Rozbicki, president of New Realty, the agent that will market Unibud's houses.
