New supermarkets and California cuisine
The Zoliborz store will have a similar amount of floor space and will be located on ul. Wolczynska.
E. Leclerc's operations in Poland are being managed by a French-Polish company, Pergranso, which conducted land searches and negotiated contracts.
The company will be in competition with several other food stores already established in the market and also planning to expand. Among the competition are Billa, Marc-Pol, Rema 1000, Globi, Max, and Hit.
Piotr Urbanski, head of Pergranso, said that the French have carried out extensive market research, and that he's convinced there is still room in the market for new operators. Urbanski will manage the Ursynow supermarket.
As far as the property market is concerned, many analysts see the growth of superstores in general as evidence of the country's retail potential. They also say that while many small retailers looking for sites in the Centrum district have been kept out because of difficulties in obtaining space, big players with larger space requirements have expanded rapidly.
Most of these are on the city's outskirts, and as Richard Peterson of Healey & Baker said, it looks as if the Centrum is losing out as shoppers - and developers - look to the suburbs for opportunities.
Big tenant needed for IKEA
IKEA says they're looking now for only one more tenant for their commercial center at Janki in southern Warsaw.
Although this may sound like an easy task, that retailer would have to be interested in taking a 4,000 square meter chunk of the 15,000 square meter complex which consists of two large retail sections connected by a corridor with space for smaller shops.
Ikea has been successful in signing up one tenant for a similar amount of space at the site, Office Depot, which is part of a well-known U.S. chain of office product stores. Also signed up at the commercial center are Euro, Micro - a Swedish spare automotive parts retailer - and Danish carpet seller Tapperland. There are also two or three small shops of 200 - 300 square meters which have already been leased.
Whose Arka?
It appears that the Jablkowski brothers, or rather their heirs, may have a chance to get back the shopping center Arka, on ul. Bracka, which houses clothier Carli Gry among others.
The Warsaw Commercial Court overturned the District Court ruling which resulted in the case being thrown out of court.
The property was taken after World War II from their forefathers as part of the country's nationalization program. According to Antoni Feldon, head of the Association of Polish Industrialists to which the heirs belong, the state waited until after the Jablkowski brothers had already rebuilt the building before transferring it to the State Treasury.
The Ministry of Construction and Spatial Planning, after much deliberation, decided to invalidate the 1952 decree which led to Jablkowskis' loss of the property. The only problem was that in 1984 the state granted a long-term lease on the building to the Polish Artisans Society, which is still considered valid. To regain the building, the court would have to invalidate this lease contract.
Historic building to lease
Prime Property has announced that they have been appointed leasing agents for a building undergoing refurbishment on ul. Karowa by the Hotel Bristol.
"It's a very sympathetic restoration of a historic landmark," said Janet Choynowski, head of Prime Property. Building permits have already been obtained and the building will be delivered for occupancy in June.
The building comprises 2,000 square meters of space. The investors are Polish, but Choynowski declined to give any further information about them.
Other news -
Malibu on the Vistula
Restaurant operators from Beverly Hills are setting up shop in the Aktyn building, now ready for occupancy, with the opening of their restaurant Malibu. The restaurant will offer "traditional" California cuisine, notably grilled swordfish on the menu. The company will bring in their own chef from California to ensure true beachside flavor.
Prime Property acted for the group which took the entire restaurant space plus some of the adjacent retail space. The restaurant is also interested in starting up a catering service.
Bleak housing law report
The Ministry of Construction and Spatial Planning has released their report on the Law on Apartment Rental and Housing Aid.
The new law, which went into effect late last year, gave local authorities the power to set rent levels themselves. Previously the Council of Ministers set rents for the entire country.
According to the report, rents doubled in 15% of the cities studied, in 50% of the cities rents rose two to three times their previous level, and in 35% of the cities rents more than tripled.
Despite the increase in rentals, the report states with regret that most cities are not planning to use the extra financial resources on the renovation and upkeep of buildings, and in 31% of the cases 1995 local budgets actually call for a decrease in funding renovation.
E. Leclerc's operations in Poland are being managed by a French-Polish company, Pergranso, which conducted land searches and negotiated contracts.
The company will be in competition with several other food stores already established in the market and also planning to expand. Among the competition are Billa, Marc-Pol, Rema 1000, Globi, Max, and Hit.
Piotr Urbanski, head of Pergranso, said that the French have carried out extensive market research, and that he's convinced there is still room in the market for new operators. Urbanski will manage the Ursynow supermarket.
As far as the property market is concerned, many analysts see the growth of superstores in general as evidence of the country's retail potential. They also say that while many small retailers looking for sites in the Centrum district have been kept out because of difficulties in obtaining space, big players with larger space requirements have expanded rapidly.
Most of these are on the city's outskirts, and as Richard Peterson of Healey & Baker said, it looks as if the Centrum is losing out as shoppers - and developers - look to the suburbs for opportunities.
Big tenant needed for IKEA
IKEA says they're looking now for only one more tenant for their commercial center at Janki in southern Warsaw.
Although this may sound like an easy task, that retailer would have to be interested in taking a 4,000 square meter chunk of the 15,000 square meter complex which consists of two large retail sections connected by a corridor with space for smaller shops.
Ikea has been successful in signing up one tenant for a similar amount of space at the site, Office Depot, which is part of a well-known U.S. chain of office product stores. Also signed up at the commercial center are Euro, Micro - a Swedish spare automotive parts retailer - and Danish carpet seller Tapperland. There are also two or three small shops of 200 - 300 square meters which have already been leased.
Whose Arka?
It appears that the Jablkowski brothers, or rather their heirs, may have a chance to get back the shopping center Arka, on ul. Bracka, which houses clothier Carli Gry among others.
The Warsaw Commercial Court overturned the District Court ruling which resulted in the case being thrown out of court.
The property was taken after World War II from their forefathers as part of the country's nationalization program. According to Antoni Feldon, head of the Association of Polish Industrialists to which the heirs belong, the state waited until after the Jablkowski brothers had already rebuilt the building before transferring it to the State Treasury.
The Ministry of Construction and Spatial Planning, after much deliberation, decided to invalidate the 1952 decree which led to Jablkowskis' loss of the property. The only problem was that in 1984 the state granted a long-term lease on the building to the Polish Artisans Society, which is still considered valid. To regain the building, the court would have to invalidate this lease contract.
Historic building to lease
Prime Property has announced that they have been appointed leasing agents for a building undergoing refurbishment on ul. Karowa by the Hotel Bristol.
"It's a very sympathetic restoration of a historic landmark," said Janet Choynowski, head of Prime Property. Building permits have already been obtained and the building will be delivered for occupancy in June.
The building comprises 2,000 square meters of space. The investors are Polish, but Choynowski declined to give any further information about them.
Other news -
Malibu on the Vistula
Restaurant operators from Beverly Hills are setting up shop in the Aktyn building, now ready for occupancy, with the opening of their restaurant Malibu. The restaurant will offer "traditional" California cuisine, notably grilled swordfish on the menu. The company will bring in their own chef from California to ensure true beachside flavor.
Prime Property acted for the group which took the entire restaurant space plus some of the adjacent retail space. The restaurant is also interested in starting up a catering service.
Bleak housing law report
The Ministry of Construction and Spatial Planning has released their report on the Law on Apartment Rental and Housing Aid.
The new law, which went into effect late last year, gave local authorities the power to set rent levels themselves. Previously the Council of Ministers set rents for the entire country.
According to the report, rents doubled in 15% of the cities studied, in 50% of the cities rents rose two to three times their previous level, and in 35% of the cities rents more than tripled.
Despite the increase in rentals, the report states with regret that most cities are not planning to use the extra financial resources on the renovation and upkeep of buildings, and in 31% of the cases 1995 local budgets actually call for a decrease in funding renovation.
