Rise of the Silesian tiger

The capital of Poland's Lower Silesia voivodship is becoming one of the country's major commercial property locations. The city is already the third-most-dynamic office market in Poland, after Warsaw and Kraków, and is now witnessing considerable growth in volume of retail and logistics space.

BPO bonanza

In 2007, Wrocław saw the delivery of over 37,000 sqm of modern office space, bringing its total office stock to almost 220,000 sqm. The city's office market is characterized by a low vacancy rate, which stood at 2.6 percent at the beginning of the year, as well as growing demand for office space, generated to a large extent by multinational firms' BPO centers as well as financial institutions. Because of these factors, market analysts foresee further growth in the upcoming years.

"Almost 120,000 sqm of new office space is likely to come on the market in 2008, which will be the highest amount of annual delivery ever recorded in the Wrocław market," said a report by real estate consultancy DTZ. "Provided all the projects scheduled for 2009-2010 are completed on time, a further 180,000-190,000 sqm will be delivered. By the end of 2010, the total stock may exceed 500,000 sqm," the report added.

Among the most popular business locations in Wrocław are the city center, as well as areas along ul. Powstańców Śląskich in the city's south and ul. Legnicka and ul. Strzegomska in its western part. The companies that build there include both local developers and large players such as GTC, Skanska and Ghelamco.

Some of the office schemes that are scheduled for completion in Wrocław in 2008-2009 include GTC's Globis Wrocław and the A building of Centrum Biurowe Karkonoska, Skanska's Grunwaldzki Center, Archicom's Zachodnie Centrum Biurowe as well as AKME's Beta Centre.

Shopping spree

The retail segment of the Wrocław real estate market continues to grow as well, with delivery of new space in 2007 alone accounting for a 60-percent increase in the city's total retail stock.

"The demand for modern retail space in Wrocław remains at a high, stable level and is focused primarily on shopping centers. The retail property investment market mainly attracts capital from Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, France, Great Britain and Ireland," said a publication by real estate agency Ober-Haus.

Major retail projects currently in the pipeline include Mayland's Idylla Wrocławska and DTC Real Estate's Renoma, which are expected to deliver 50,000 and 31,000 sqm of retail space, respectively.

Logistical possibilities

Due to its well-developed transportation infrastructure and proximity to a number of special economic zones, the logistics market in Wrocław has also seen a lot of development activity in recent months.

According to the Ober-Haus report, the demand for modern warehouse space in 2008-2009 may amount to 150,000. Among the largest new logistics projects located in and around Wrocław are ProLogis Park Wrocław, Parkridge Distribution Centre, TinerLogisticsCenter and Panattoni Park Wrocław.