Renoma revitalized
DTC Real Estate has announced that the opening of the re-developed Renoma shopping center in Wrocław will take place in the first half of 2008. Thanks to the development, the new Renoma, on the corner of ul. widnicka and ul. Podwale, will double its current total space to some 99,500 sqm. The facility will contain 44,000 sqm of retail space as well as 9,500 sqm of office space, and will also be furnished with parking for around 730 cars. DTC Real Estate has not revealed the total value of the development.
Renoma has been Wrocław's flagship department store since the inter-war period, when the building was built as a luxury, seven-storey mall owned by the Berlin-based Wertheim company. After the war, the re-established department store became famous for its offer of goods that were difficult for Wrocław's inhabitants to find elsewhere. In 1977, the Renoma building was placed in the heritage register as a masterwork of European modernism.
The new Renoma was designed by the Maćków Project Workshop in conjunction with London's Benoy and Arup studios. The new design was inspired by the old, pre-war Wertheim building, but new architectural styles will be used. Also, ul. widnicka's traditional role as a center for trade has inspired DTC to extend the development along the street to the nearby Kociuszki Square.
Agata Mikołajczyk, spokesperson for DTC Real Estate, said that the Renoma project is part of the company's strategy of coexistence with city centers. To make the projects beneficial to the public, the investor plans to renovate ul. Czysta and part of ul. Podwale. In addition, the green area next to ul. Podwale will be provided with more plants, as well as a lighting system.
DTC Real Estate, which owns 20 department stores in 15 of Poland's biggest cities, plans also to develop several other stores.
Mikołajczyk suggests Poznań's Okršglak could be DTC's next department store to undergo renovation.
"Our Poznań store is located on ul. 27 Grudnia and could be re-developed into a hotel and an apartment facility. Its retail space would be shifted and set up in the new, more practically designed building, which would be connected to the old part," said Mikołajczyk.
According to Mikołajczyk, DTC Real Estate is waiting for Poznań's City Hall to announce its spatial development plan, so the specific renovation plans for Okršglak can be prepared.
