More rooms at the airport
By : Anna Staniszewska
The three-star Airport Hotel Okecie, next to Warsaw's Fryderyk Chopin International Airport, will open its doors in August. The seven-story development 70% financed by bank loans and private Polish and German investors has 180 rooms, including seven suites, two restaurants and five conference rooms.
Although investors refused to reveal the amount of financial backing, Marceli K. Krol, president of rival group Global Hotels Development, said building a single three-star hotel room, on average, costs $90,000-$95,000, not including land. By his estimates the total value of the Okecie investment is between $16.2 million and $17.1 million.
As new hotel developments are completed, analysts estimate that by 2004 Warsaw will have about 2,300 new rooms. But while the upper-range hotel market becomes saturated developments by Radisson, Westin and Inter Continental are expected in the next three years the mid-range market remains immature and has plenty of room for growth, industry analysts said.
Eleven mid-priced hotels are in the planning stages and should deliver about 3,400 rooms in the next decade. Airport Hotel Okecie General Director Michal G. Szczepanski said he welcomes future competition by groups such as Global Hotels and Gromada, which plan to build similar developments nearby. "Competition increases the quality of services," Szczepanski said. He expects the Okecie hotel to reach 60% occupancy in the first few months of operations. Szczepanski wouldn't reveal prices at the new hotel, but the average rate in a three-star hotel in Warsaw is $70-$100.
Ober Haus' new office
Property agency Ober Haus, a subsidiary of the U.S.' Apollo Real Estate Fund, opened its third Polish branch in Gdynia late last month. The company also plans to open outlets in Warsaw, and later in Wroclaw, Katowice, Poznan and Lodz by the end of the year. Ober Haus' main client so far in the Tri-City region is the Gemini shopping and entertainment center.
The agency also has offices in Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia, and deals mainly with residential, office and retail space as well as property evaluation. The value of real estate sold, purchased, rented or valued on behalf of clients in the Baltic and Central European region last year exceeded $100 million, the company said.
Ober Haus' main focus is on local businesses. "The market is tight and we are not aiming to challenge international agencies, therefore 90% of our clients are Polish," said Peter Gage Morris, the company's managing director.
According to Jerzy Wysocki, head of the commercial department at U.K.-based Knight Frank Nieruchomosci, it's easier to set up a branch office when there is already a local client.
"The Polish property market is absorptive enough, especially in the virgin Tri-City market where there are no major international agencies present," Wysocki said. He said he doesn't see Ober Haus as a direct competitor in Krakow, where Knight Frank is present. "They are not breathing down our necks," he said.
Ober Haus opened its first two offices in Krakow last year.
Busy month deals done
Anglo-Dutch property consultancy DTZ Zadelhoff Tie Leung finalized a deal with Korea-based Daewoo Electronics last month for more than 3,000 square meters of warehouse space and 500 square meters of office space at the Bokserska Distribution Center. The project, developed by Belgium's Ghelamco, has 15,000 square meters of warehouse space and is already 87% occupied. The adjacent 4,000 square-meter office space is fully let. Asking rent in the complex is $9 per square meter, in addition to a $1.50 service charge.
Dutch car leasing company Business Lease took 260 square meters in the Flanders Business Park in June. DTZ acted on behalf of Liebrecht & Wood, the Belgium-based developer. The 5,300-plus square-meter project has an asking rent of E24 plus a E3.75 service charge.
Maxon Nieruchomosci last month secured a deal with Londa Kosmetyki, a Polish cosmetics producer and supplier. Kosmetyki leased 2,500 square meters at the former headquarters of ABC Data on Warsaw's ulica Leszczynowa. The company took 1,500 square meters of warehouse space and 1,000 square meters of office space.
U.S.-based oil giant Mobil Oil leased 2,000 square meters in Warsaw's Warta Tower & International Centre last month. Asking rent in the 30,000 square-meter building on ulica Chmielna, developed by Wartan Inwestycje, is $27 per square meter plus a $5.50 service charge. Occupancy rates are 70%. The new tenant was represented by Anglo-American property consultancy Jones Lang LaSalle. U.K.-based CB Richard Ellis acted on behalf of the developer.
Market research company AC Nielsen took 2,040 square meters in Stratos, a development by Austria's Karimpol. Colliers International was an agent in the deal.
The Batory office building on Aleje Jerozolimskie signed U.S. company Goodyear as a tenant last month, in a contract for 1,174 square meters of space at a monthly rate of E24 per square meter, plus E3.75 in service charges. Colliers International real estate consultancy acted on behalf of Belgian developer Liebrecht & Wood in the deal.
Knight Frank Nieruchomosci's Wroclaw office secured a 1,600 square-meter lease deal with local papers Slowo Media and Wieczor Wroclawia at the Financial Invest Group building on ulica Ruska 11/12. Monthly rents cost DM 22 per square meter in the 3,000 square-meter development, which was completed this March.
T-Systems, a German IT solutions supplier, took 1,560 square meters on Wroclaw's ulica Ruska. Grupa Inwestycyjna Wratislavia was the developer of the 5,100 square-meter office building, which charges DM 28 per square meter. Knight Frank acted on behalf of the investor.
French perfumery chain Sephora rented 460 square meters in Reform Plaza on Warsaw's Aleje Jerozolimskie. Anglo-American consultancy Jones Lang LaSalle represented Reform Co., the developer of the 56,000 square-meter building.
