Rank makes progress with its Białystok SC

Legnica-based EF Rank Progress has a fresh design for its proposed shopping center to be located between ul. Popiełuszki, Słonecznikowa, Wrocławska and Zielonogórska in Białystok. The developer is prepared to launch construction, but is currently waiting for the building permit. Once it is granted, the company will begin erecting a 5,000-sqm shopping gallery and a 10,000-sqm Carrefour hypermarket. The first stage of the development, worth some zł.100 million, should be completed within eight months.

Jan Mroczka, co-owner of EF Rank Progress, is very enthusiastic about the future occupants. "We already have inquiries from many prospective tenants," he says. "Actually, if we look at the history of our investments in Poland, Białystok was the first city where we were attacked - in the positive sense of the word - by such a large number of operators."

At the beginning of June, the Mayor of Białystok, Ryszard Tur, refused to issue a building permit for the development, explaining that the design prepared by AB Architects didn't show satisfactory architectural value. Now the investors are hopeful the new design will be accepted.

Since the first stage will only cover half of the plot, worth over zł.20 million, the investor is already negotiating other developments. According to Mroczka, EF Rank Progress wants to locate entertainment facilities and perhaps a DIY hypermarket there. In addition, the company will construct roads at a cost of zł.15 million around the development.