The eye on real estate

Speculations mounted over the weekend that Austrian investment fund Europolis Invest made another acquisition on the Warsaw real estate market. This time the aggressive fund purchased Waresco, the owner of the Sienna Centre office building. The purchase of Waresco shares, places Europolis Invest closer to its goal of intensive expansion in Central and Eastern Europe.
According to market insiders, Europolis Invest's next target on the Warsaw market might be Globe Trade Centre (GTC), the developer of the Mokotów Business Park office complex and the nearby cinema and shopping centre Galeria Mokotów.
"We can neither deny nor confirm this information," said Katarzyna Szewczuk, the general manager of Europolis Polska. "We are currently in talks regarding several locations in Warsaw, in the central business district and outside."
When asked about the fund's plans outside Warsaw, she confirmed that the company has been considering the move.
"We can also potentially move out of Warsaw, but it depends on the quality and location of the object in question," she said.
GTC representatives were unable to comment on the speculation.
The shareholders of Europolis Invest, one of the largest real estate funds in Europe, are Investkredit Bank of Austria (65%) and the EBRD (35%). The shareholders have given the fund €300 million in order to acquire a real estate portfolio in selected countries in Central and Eastern Europe. Europolis Invest has already purchased three office buildings and a warehouse park in Warsaw and three office buildings in the Czech Republic and Hungary. The fund intends to reach a €1.2 billion target within the next five years.

Office
A Polish subsidiary of the Danish developer TK Development and U.S. IT firm Microsoft signed an agreement to lease 5,500 square metres in Jerozolimskie Company House II, which is currently under construction at Al. Jerozolimskie 195 in Warsaw. This is the largest transaction on Warsaw's real estate market so far this year. Microsoft will move into its new headquarters in November 2003. Jerozolimskie Company House II will provide a campus-style building next to Jerozolimskie Company House I, completed in 1999. Jerozolimskie Company House II will comprise class A, five-storey office space totalling 9,150 square metres of leasable office space. The building was designed by Warsaw-based APA Kuryłowicz & Associates.

Retail
Warsaw's shopping and entertainment centre Arkadia is now 55% leased, one year before its scheduled opening. The new retailers in the centre include Leroy Merlin, which leased 14,000 square metres, Cubus with 1000 square metres, Benetton which leased 280 square metres and Carlings with 180 square metres. Other tenants include: Carrefour, Media Markt, EMPiK, Smyk, Zara, Giacomelli Sport, Reserved and Galeria Centrum.
Investments
The city of Gdańsk became the third partner in Żuraw, a joint venture created by PLL LOT and Sopot-based developer Nederpol Development & Investment (NDI). Żuraw is to construct a hotel-office complex in Trag Węglowy in Gdańsk. The city will contribute a 1,300-square-metre plot of land, while LOT will contribute the second 2,700-square-metre plot. The cost of the investment is estimated at €49 million. Currently NDI is preparing the project and will soon announce a competition for the design. Gdańsk and LOT will receive office space in the complex in return for the land brought into the deal. NDI does not exclude the possibility of including another party in the joint venture.

Business
Business Centre Bitwy Warszawskiej in Warsaw has recently leased 2,000 square metres of office space. Orix, a Japanses leasing firm, leased 650 square metres. Prokor, an engineering consultancy leased 260 square metres, while oil giant Shell increased its offices in the building by 360 square metres. Other new tenants include a British financial institution, which leased 630 square metres. Business Centre Bitwy Warszawskiej was developed by the Belgian Ghelamco Group and upon its completion will comprise three buildings. At the moment, parts A and B are completed and with the above-mentioned transactions finalized, they are 75% leased.

Warehouse
Messenger Service Stolica, largest courier service in Poland, has signed an agreement to lease the first two buildings at the Stolica Business Centre. The total area of the centre totals 11,591 square metres. The project is located five kilometres outside Janki, alongside the Kraków highway. When completed the business park will have a total area of 26,000 square metres. The construction of the parks first phase begun in May and was completed last month. Real estate consultancies Cushman & Wakefield Healey & Baker and CB Richard Ellis participated in the deal.