Poznan still waiting for room to move into new digs
That work in part means convincing industry to move out of the city center. Although the city's four-year-old master plan envisions commercial, office and residential space downtown, industry still occupies prime space, officials said.
A comprehensive zoning ordinance that would open other sites for development is currently under study. Approval is not expected before the end of the year. For example, the approximately 50-hectare site adjacent to Poznan's main railway station is slated for mixed-use development. But nothing can happen before the city has approved its zoning plan, said Rafal Dylewski, head of marketing for PKP's property division in Gdansk.
In the meantime, the city has identified several tracts of vacant land without infrastructure on the outskirts of town available for industrial and residential park development.
Thus, the Poznan Financial Center will be the first, and for the time being, only class A office space on offer in Poznan, said Adam Trybusz, president of PFC's leasing agent Knight Frank Nieruchomosci.
"There is nothing else going on right now in class A," Trybusz said.
A construction permit for the financial center is expected this week, with a cornerstone ceremony planned for Oct. 6. The $35 million project, targeted to take two years, will bring on line 14,300 square meters of class A office space and 3,500 square meters of new retail space. There is also the recently opened Centrum Biznesu Poznan, whose 7,500 square meters of office space Trybusz rated as "A-."
For the foreseeable future, Poznan's 42 banks and 25 insurance companies will have to make do with the office space already on offer: 530,000 square meters of mostly pre-war apartments converted to office use and class B buildings from the 1960s and 1970s. The supply of quality office space has been limited in Poznan and other regional cities because demand has been concentrated in Warsaw, which has 90% of all modern office space in Poland, according to a report by Couderq & Kubas.
New office space such as Dwor Hamburski and most of the new space planned to come on line is for use by investors, according to the Couderq & Kubas report. Rental rates for the highest standard office space in the center of Poznan run $20-$30 per square meter per month, rates that are comparable to other large cities except Warsaw, where class A space runs $40-$45 per square meter per month, according to Couderq & Kubas.
The city, which is a partner in the Poznan Financial Center along with the Von der Heyden Group, plans to draw foreign financial services and trade enterprises to take up space in the 14-floor office building. The World Trade Center is also eyed as one of the building's tenants, according to city officials.
Separate retail and office-space projects are part of the long-term plan for the site between ulica Krolowej Jadwigi and ulica Kosciuszki, in addition to an upscale hotel. Four other new hotel projects are under consideration for the downtown area, according to local real estate authorities.
On the retail side, GBS Metro is expected to complete its hypermarket in the Franowo district, six kilometers from downtown. The 22-hectare project will be the biggest retail space in Poznan, according to city officials. Poznan already boasts retailers Makro Cash & Carry, Geant, Jumbo, Selgros and Piotr i Pawel.
Poznan, the nation's fifth-largest city, has attracted 1,560 foreign firms to set up shop within its borders, the second highest total in Poland after Warsaw, according to Teresa Mendat, director of the city's Department of Development Coordination.
Foreign direct investment more than $11 million accounts for about half of the $1.5 billion total foreign investment in the community here, according to local officials. Investments cover a range of manufacturing sectors including the automotive, pharmaceutical, tobacco and food processing industries.
Reemstma's $245 million purchase of a state tobacco firm in 1996 remains the landmark investment to date, followed by Glaxo-Welcome's $220 million purchase of Polfa this year. Allied Irish Bank's $76 million investment in former state-owned Wielkopolski Bank Kredytowy (WBK) is the third largest foreign investment.
Bridgestone-Firestone is the most recent large foreign investor to enter the local market with a $45 million investment. Foreign banks offering financial services include Berliner Bank, Dresdner Bank, Raiffeisen, Citibank, Amerbank, Creditanstalt and ABN AMRO. Germany-based investors are first, both in terms of number of investments (36%) and share of total investment (38%).
A comprehensive zoning ordinance that would open other sites for development is currently under study. Approval is not expected before the end of the year. For example, the approximately 50-hectare site adjacent to Poznan's main railway station is slated for mixed-use development. But nothing can happen before the city has approved its zoning plan, said Rafal Dylewski, head of marketing for PKP's property division in Gdansk.
In the meantime, the city has identified several tracts of vacant land without infrastructure on the outskirts of town available for industrial and residential park development.
Thus, the Poznan Financial Center will be the first, and for the time being, only class A office space on offer in Poznan, said Adam Trybusz, president of PFC's leasing agent Knight Frank Nieruchomosci.
"There is nothing else going on right now in class A," Trybusz said.
A construction permit for the financial center is expected this week, with a cornerstone ceremony planned for Oct. 6. The $35 million project, targeted to take two years, will bring on line 14,300 square meters of class A office space and 3,500 square meters of new retail space. There is also the recently opened Centrum Biznesu Poznan, whose 7,500 square meters of office space Trybusz rated as "A-."
For the foreseeable future, Poznan's 42 banks and 25 insurance companies will have to make do with the office space already on offer: 530,000 square meters of mostly pre-war apartments converted to office use and class B buildings from the 1960s and 1970s. The supply of quality office space has been limited in Poznan and other regional cities because demand has been concentrated in Warsaw, which has 90% of all modern office space in Poland, according to a report by Couderq & Kubas.
New office space such as Dwor Hamburski and most of the new space planned to come on line is for use by investors, according to the Couderq & Kubas report. Rental rates for the highest standard office space in the center of Poznan run $20-$30 per square meter per month, rates that are comparable to other large cities except Warsaw, where class A space runs $40-$45 per square meter per month, according to Couderq & Kubas.
The city, which is a partner in the Poznan Financial Center along with the Von der Heyden Group, plans to draw foreign financial services and trade enterprises to take up space in the 14-floor office building. The World Trade Center is also eyed as one of the building's tenants, according to city officials.
Separate retail and office-space projects are part of the long-term plan for the site between ulica Krolowej Jadwigi and ulica Kosciuszki, in addition to an upscale hotel. Four other new hotel projects are under consideration for the downtown area, according to local real estate authorities.
On the retail side, GBS Metro is expected to complete its hypermarket in the Franowo district, six kilometers from downtown. The 22-hectare project will be the biggest retail space in Poznan, according to city officials. Poznan already boasts retailers Makro Cash & Carry, Geant, Jumbo, Selgros and Piotr i Pawel.
Poznan, the nation's fifth-largest city, has attracted 1,560 foreign firms to set up shop within its borders, the second highest total in Poland after Warsaw, according to Teresa Mendat, director of the city's Department of Development Coordination.
Foreign direct investment more than $11 million accounts for about half of the $1.5 billion total foreign investment in the community here, according to local officials. Investments cover a range of manufacturing sectors including the automotive, pharmaceutical, tobacco and food processing industries.
Reemstma's $245 million purchase of a state tobacco firm in 1996 remains the landmark investment to date, followed by Glaxo-Welcome's $220 million purchase of Polfa this year. Allied Irish Bank's $76 million investment in former state-owned Wielkopolski Bank Kredytowy (WBK) is the third largest foreign investment.
Bridgestone-Firestone is the most recent large foreign investor to enter the local market with a $45 million investment. Foreign banks offering financial services include Berliner Bank, Dresdner Bank, Raiffeisen, Citibank, Amerbank, Creditanstalt and ABN AMRO. Germany-based investors are first, both in terms of number of investments (36%) and share of total investment (38%).
