Rite of Pasaż grinds to a halt

Domy Towarowe Centrum Real Estate (DTC), the owner of Domy Towarowe Centrum in the centre of Warsaw, behind which the passage is located, has finished its revitalization project. However, the company is still waiting for the green light to start works.

In May this year the City Council agreed for DTC to lease the passage for a 30-year period. This decision was also accepted by the President of Warsaw, and now newly elected President of Poland, Lech Kaczyński. However, City Hall has still not signed on the lease's dotted line, despite the fact that DTC is ready to apply for the construction permit.

"Now, we only need the rights to the real estate. The lease agreement is the key to further activity," said Jarosław Kaniewski, a development agent at DTC RE. "We are ready but the cooperation with the City boils down to negotiations."

"We are at the stage of discussing the agreement conditions. This is a sore point of the city and we have to secure the interests of the local citizens, entrepreneurs and the city. I would rather not reveal the details," said Adam Bandosz from the real estate management office at City Hall. "We are talking about a long term agreement. We should not act hastily."

Realistic deadline

One controversy concerns plots that are adjacent to the passage. The city insists that DTC also includes the neighboring plots in the revitalization project so that the whole area retains a similar look. "We do not want to end the revitalization on Pasaż Wiecha," said Bandosz. "The whole area has to be related." DTC, however, is not interested. "We do not want to be burdened with revitalization works of the squares adjacent to the passage. Our architects have prepared some aspects of this area but we will not deal with negotiating the project details with particular owners of the property," explains Kaniewski.

The City claims it also wants the revitalization to start as soon as possible, with Bandosz saying DTC was unlikely to withdraw from the project at this stage. "They are not pure altruists dedicated to the city. They also want to make their department store attractive," he added. According to Bandosz a realistic deadline for the final agreement to be signed is the beginning of November.

Plan of action

DTC's revitalization project, which has undergone many changes, includes three main elements, i.e. floor, elevation, and illumination. The uneven path will be replaced with smooth Spanish granite and will also be a gallery of Warsaw personalities, which, according to the project authors, should be somehow related to the writer Stefan Wiechecki, the passage's patron. As to the elevation, it will have various colors so that each of the department store buildings is differentiated.

The most interesting part is the lighting. The concept developed from the idea to cover the passage with a roof, through raising posts topped with illuminated umbrellas, to, finally, winged lampposts, which will generate light also in the daytime.

The investment will be fully financed by DTC Real Estate. The company has already spent several hundred thousand złoty on the project. The company's representatives pledge, that, irrespective of the City's decision, it will start renovating the facades in spring 2006.