Shopping space boom

In a recent European Shopping Center Development report, Cushman & Wakefield (C&W) predicted that a record 13.8 million sqm of new shopping-center schemes will be opened across Europe this year and in 2007.

C&W expects that the total amount of gross leasable area (GLA) of shopping-center space in Europe will break through the 100-million sqm mark to reach 107 million sqm by the end of 2007.

Poland is one of the busiest markets, and it has the second-highest amount of space in Europe due to open in the run-up to 2007. Piotr Kaszyński, Cushman & Wakefield's head of retail in Poland, said: "Nearly every main Polish town and city will have a modern-format retail scheme by the end of 2007, including the landmark Złote Tarasy in Warsaw and Arkady Wrocławskie in Wroclaw. From next year we will see greater construction activity of new retail schemes in Poland's medium-size cities. "However, the next wave of developments in the country's main cities will take place in 2008-2010, with the revitalization of entire city districts, such as Galeria Bałtycka in Tri-city and the redevelopment of the railway station in Katowice," Kaszyński predicts.

"The emerging markets of Central and Eastern Europe are seeing most growth in the amount of new space, but the more mature markets of Western Europe are also seeing high levels of development as developers remodel the concept of shopping centers to cater for changing demands," added Boris van Haare Heijmeijer, C&W's head of shopping centers in Europe.

In terms of new space scheduled to open in 2006 and 2007, Russia tops the ranking on a country basis, followed by Poland and Italy.

Andrzej Wrobel