WBJ: This year, TDJ Estate is celebrating its 10th anniversary. Tell us a few words about the history of your company — its origins and development.

Maciej Wójcik: In 2021, we are celebrating 10 years since our adventure with the broadly understood real estate market started. Real estate is one of the operating sectors of TDJ — a family investment company that for more than 40 years has been building long-term value and developing in the areas of equity, venture, foundation, finance, and estate. In the beginning, we focused on companies associated with heavy industry, which is our native sector, but for 10 years we have been undergoing significant transformations. Our investments include renewable energy sources, high technology, automatic control engineering, and education. Convinced that real estate is the future, we decided to develop this area strongly in TDJ. We bravely invested in Silesia and in other regions, created challenging and competitive commercial and residential projects, expanded our land development activity, and participated in logistics projects. In the following years, we are planning multiple projects that will considerably help our business grow and strengthen its position on the national market.

Are there any projects in your portfolio that make you particularly proud? And why?

We find all of our projects important. I would even say unique. They are our showcases, locations, and spaces in which we would like to live and work ourselves. We are particularly proud of the .KTW office complex. Since 2015, we have been building it at the heart of the city, next to the legendary Spodek Arena in Katowice. We began with taking up the challenge of demolishing the DOKP building (former seat of the Regional Directorate of State Railways) and then started building the first tower. The more you have, the more you want — and so the expectations of future tenants and the local community also grew. Over the past six years, we consistently worked on a project for which everyone, including ourselves, has high expectations. It seems to me we have already met these expectations to some extent. The lower tower — .KTW I — is fully commercialized. Its quality, safety and greenness are confirmed by BREEAM and WELL Health & Safety certification (it was the first office building in Poland to be granted the latter). The .KTW II tower is the tallest office building in the Metropolis GZM. It has already attracted key tenants such as PwC SDC and the end of construction is planned for Q1 2022. This project is unique because we have been building it in a packaged formula, which means we are the general contractor supervising suppliers and subcontractors and coordinating all sectors. This is done by an excellent team of ambitious people who were not scared even by the task of building more than 43,000 sqm of office space in the very center of Katowice. On the contrary, they were inspired and eager to develop their skills. 

There have been considerable developments in the real estate market in Poland over the past 10 years. What are your experiences, observations, and lessons learned?

The key observation is that the market is still unsaturated. Reports prepared by the European Commission show Poland is at the tail end in the housing resources rankings (only 393 new flats per 1,000 inhabitants). We are still dealing with a deficiency of new investments, although in 2020 we ranked third in Europe in that respect. The increasing wealth of society and low-interest rates have continuously driven the real estate market in Poland. While we are attempting to catch up with European leaders, other countries are intensively developing the sharing economy. The young generation’s perspective of viewing the world is changing, which has a significant impact on developing forms alternative to owning flats. Therefore, flexible rentals — fostering the development of e.g. the private rented sector (PRS) — became increasingly popular in the last decade.

The past 10 years also noted a significant growth of the commercial sector, especially in regional markets. It is not only Warsaw but also Kraków, Wrocław, Tri-City, and — increasingly boldly — Katowice that are becoming key destinations and locations where key players in modern services for global business develop their activity. Similar development trends can also be observed on markets linked to e-commerce and retail.

What are your next project plans? Do you have a good base of building development parcels for your new projects in terms of sectors and locations?

As a Silesian company, we plan to grow and reinforce our position as a leading residential property developer in this region. We also focus on other locations such as Warsaw and Kraków. Our projects in these cities are at different levels of advancement. Our investments include standard+ and premium class buildings. Our distinguishing features are superior class architecture, high quality of materials and finish, and attention to detail. We take particular care not only about technical and technological aspects but also to associate a project community making a good and dedicated team. We create and take care of good lives. We are looking forward to collaborating with other investors operating in the housing sector in smaller cities. We want to focus on joint projects utilizing the potential of the TDJ we have built over the years.

The .KTW project has an amazing location in Katowice. How did you manage to buy this parcel and what determines your success?

We owe the success of .KTW office buildings to brave decisions and a strong belief in what we are doing and what we want to achieve right in this place. From the very beginning, this was not an easy project because of the location that, on the one hand, is undoubtedly its biggest advantage, and on the other hand, was very challenging to us (and in a sense scared our competitors off). Buying this land, we not only purchased the parcels but also an 80m tall building with a volume of 99,000 cum (m3) that used to be one of the landmarks of Katowice. For many years the seat of the DOKP was an inseparable part of the city center landscape. However, for technical reasons, the building was decommissioned in 2009. Demolition of such a giant at the center of a conurbation with a population of 2.3 million, in the immediate proximity of the region’s main roads and an architectural icon of Katowice — the Spodek Arena, was a real challenge which we were able to handle. We also strongly believed in the potential of the commercial market in Katowice that only started developing about six years ago. But for that belief, we would not have been able to initiate such a big project. It was also significant that we did not want the city and the area to be overwhelmed by our vision, but instead, we attempted to fit in and add a business element symbolized by .KTW to the Culture Zone. Our subsequent projects, including the Pierwsza Dzielnica [First District], prove that our vision is coherent and our history is real. We do not compete but collaborate in creating new value in the commercial and residential sectors. I think that all these aspects together show why the projects of TDJ Estate located near the Culture Zone and the very center of Katowice enjoy such popularity. This is the recipe for our success that we are trying to follow in every project.

Ten years of solid success and growth — what can we expect from TDJ Estate in the following 10 years?

We have certainly not said the last word. Looking at the volume of our achievements in the past decade — we sold more than 1,660 flats, built about 83,000 sqm of residential space, and successfully completed eight projects, 16 other projects are under preparation and 11 under construction — knowing there are still a lot of things ahead of us, I deeply believe that you can expect many positive surprises. We have built a fair land bank guaranteeing that our strategy can be implemented over the following five years. Our prospects for development are very ambitious. Personally, I wish myself and my team unquenchable enthusiasm,  creativity, and professionalism that over the past years guaranteed us the success of unique projects such as the .KTW office complex or the Pierwsza Dzielnica [First District].