Ruch's immovable revolution

Ruch, the biggest Polish press distributor, has received notarial acts for the first 14 of its 69 properties that do not have a regulated legal status.

All of these properties were given to the company by the Treasury Ministry at the beginning of the 1990s, when Ruch was built from the ashes of the defunct concern, Prasa-Książka-Ruch. However, during the transition period, some legal irregularities occurred which meant that Ruch did not have notarial acts. The company is now in the process of receiving full property rights over these properties.

Ruch's board hopes to complete the process for the other 55 properties by the of June 2007. The disputed properties are in towns that include Zakopane, Bydgoszcz, Ustroń, and Przemyśl. Some of the locations are in lucrative downtown areas.

According to Rzeczpospolita daily, Ruch intends to develop the areas and then probably sell some of them. It is still not known who will be cooperating with the distributor in its development projects. At the moment, consulting company KPMG is working on an analysis, and there are also contracts between Ruch and a consortium of Deloitte Business Consulting, Deloitte Doradztwo Podatkowe and Cushman & Wakefield, which will estimate whether it is better for Ruch to renovate the old properties or to knock them down and build from scratch.

Right now the company would like to take steps towards starting its development activities. "In two weeks, we will announce a tender to find a partner for building a residential estate in Warsaw," said Adam Pawłowicz, the president of Ruch's board.