"Property Watch": Four-star Lublinianka opens after six-month delay

The Netherlands-based Von der Heyden Group is scheduled to open the four-star Lublinianka Hotel in Lublin this Monday, six months later than planned. "The monument conservator, 91 contractors, coordination problems with delivery and passing customs procedures, as well as the beauty of the building simply required a more detailed approach," said Sven von der Heyden, managing director of the Von der Heyden Group. The total investment was €1.5 million, including €600,000 spent on the hotel's interior. "It's a real European building; carpeting from Germany, wallpaper from England, furniture from Spain and Austria, bathroom fixtures, doors and the bar from Italy, granite from Italy and Spain, windows from Poland, etc.," von der Heyden said. "It's not worth saving on furnishings because clients will appreciate these details." The hotel, built in 1900, is located on ulica Krakowskie Przedmieście in downtown Lublin. It underwent a complete renovation by the Von der Heyden Group, which bought the building two years ago from the JV Company, owned by domestic builder Budimex and Korea's Daewoo. Today, Lublinianka offers 72, mostly double, rooms including six suites. Sorat Hotels, a German hotel operator, was selected to manage the hotel, where a double room is expected to fetch a minimum of €92 per night. "It's quite expensive, but there has to be at least one hotel there for guests with thicker wallets," said Adrian Karczewicz, a hotel specialist at the U.K.-based Knight Frank Nieruchomości. Von der Heyden said some groups from Israel have already booked rooms in the hotel. Despite some market skepticism regarding Lublinianka's occupancy levels, von der Heyden said he is treating the project as a long-term investment and that he is not afraid of high-vacancy rates.

"First of all, there is no competition for Lublinianka in a 120-kilometer range," he said. "Lublin's economy will eventually pick up, which will have a positive effect on occupancy levels." Considering the interest expressed by some international hotel chains, Lubin, a city of 355,803 inhabitants and a popular tourist destination, could be a good bet for investors. "After Warsaw, Wrocław and Kraków, the SAS Radisson chose Lublin as its next destination," Karczewicz said. "That shows the market has potential." According to Karczewicz, Lublinianka will not only draw tourists from places like Israel, but also from the East. "We underestimate the Ukrainians and Russians, who have become quite wealthy," he said. Another selling point for Lublinianka is that it's a boutique hotel. "This type of hotel is new on the Polish market and is gaining in popularity because it's cozier than several-hundred room hotels," Karczewicz said.

Kinepolis sells to Daimler Kinepolis, a Belgium-based multi-screen cinema operator, sold its 52,000 square-meter lot on Aleje Jerozolimskie for an undisclosed price to Germany's DaimlerChrysler late last month. The site is located between the Castorama hardware store and the Kopernik office building. Kinepolis sold the lot after deciding that Warsaw's saturated cinema market presented too much of a risk. DaimlerChrysler plans to locate its headquarters and main showroom on the site. Jeroen van der Toolen, deputy managing director of DTZ Polska, which acted on behalf of Kinepolis, said the DaimlerChrysler investment will have an impact on infrastructure development in the area. "It will have a positive influence on the timing and construction of the new bridge and roundabout on the corner of Aleje Jerozolimskie and Łopuszańska," he said.

In brief: " Two state-owned banks, Bud-Bank (Bank Rozwoju Budownictwa Mieszkaniowego) and Powszechna Kasa Oszczźdności Bank Polski (PKO BP) will form Poland's fourth mortgage bank by the end of the year, said Jacek Bartkiewicz, vice finance minister. The banks signed a letter of intent last year but haven't yet applied for a license from the Banking Supervision Commission. " Prumerica, a subsidiary of U.S.-based Prudential insurance company, took 400 square meters in the Blue Point office building last month. The 17,350 square-meter project is located on Aleje Stanów Zjednoczonych in Warsaw's Praga district, marking the insurer's 12th branch in Poland. U.K.-based Knight Frank Nieruchomości, a property consultancy, acted on behalf of the developer Pezetel Development. " Warsaw-based real estate agency Maxon Nieruchomości announced its participation in the following deals: - Restauracja Polska: 500 square meters on ulica Belwederska in Warsaw - Sweden's PEAB: 102 square meters in the IPC office building on ulica Koszykowa 54 - A Turkish restaurant: 84 square meters in a building on Krucza 16/22