The once and future Warsaw

Now that the renovation of Pl. Małachowskiego has been successfully concluded, there are bigger plans afoot with further revitalization projects in Warsaw including the renovation of Pl. Trzech Krzyży and its environs. Has Warsaw entered a new renaissance? By Alex Hayes Recently, the Nowy Świat 2.0 modern office building was topped off. It is being built by general contractor Karmar and investor Centrum Bankowo Finansowe “Nowy Świat” in a narrow strip between an old university building and Centrum Bankowo Finansowe. Nowy Świat 2.0 is a six-storey, glazed building and will offer 4,200 sqm of office space as well as a retail area of 2,000 sqm. Additionally, there will be parking [caption id="attachment_86072" align="alignright" width="300"] Image: SW[/caption] spaces for 160 vehicles. The first tenants should be moving in in the third quarter of this year. Meanwhile, the adjacent CBF building and forecourt are undergoing a full renovation. “We want to give this area back to the city’s inhabitants,” explained Anna Wolańska-Witczak, the president of the board at Centrum Bankowo Finansowe “Nowy Świat.” With this in mind, the forecourt is to be opened up to the public. Because the building is listed on the historic buildings register, every step being taken by the investor first has to be approved by Warsaw’s curator of historic buildings. “In a building listed on the historic register, everything must remain the way it historically was. We want to return the architectural details while not forgetting about modern conveniences,” said Wolańska-Witczak. But it is not just the internal details of the building that have had to be approved. The building’s curator has also demanded that Nowy Świat 2.0 be architecturally consistent with the existing buildings. Despite this, Nowy Świat 2.0 has also obtained LEED ecological certification. The two buildings stand along Warsaw’s so-called Royal Route, a road that stretches across Warsaw’s most picturesque areas from the Royal Park in Wilanów to the Castle Square in Warsaw’s Old Town. This particular project certainly fits the definition of revitalization as given by Łukasz Maciak, the director of Capital Markets at DTZ and a member of the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors. He stated that, “Revitalization should be understood as the reinstatement of degraded buildings or urban areas that have lost their original function. Its main purpose is to find a new use for or utilize the potential of the asset or space in a way which delivers the highest and best value.” Indeed, this project can be regarded as part of a wider scheme to revitalize the Royal Route. In 2008, work on the modernization of ul. Krakowskie Przedmieście, the street that comprises the tract’s northern section, was completed. The street was in large part pedestrianized, only leaving a narrow road for the exclusive use of city buses. The Three Crosses makeover The revitalization work seems to be slowly moving southward and now encompasses the CBF buildings and the adjacent Pl. Trzech Krzyży, (the Three Crosses Square), where Kulczyk Silverstein Properties is now completing the renovation and extension of its Ethos building. On completion, the development will offer 2,500 sqm of retail space with exclusive boutique stores that open out onto the square and it will also offer over 13,000 sqm of modern class-A office space. The building should eventually be awarded BREEAM ecological certification at the “Excellent” level. The building will have a total of eight silent-operating elevators, six of which will be for the exclusive use of the office tenants, one of the latest building management systems, which will efficiently control and monitor the heating, air conditioning and ventilation in the building. It will even have two reception desks. Recently, the city has spent PLN 3.5 million on repaving the square. An underground parking lot has also been proposed but at present, there are still no concrete details as to when it might be built. The square has long been the place where luxury brands open their flagship stores. It continues to attract new ones.. Omega, part of the Swatch group, opened its first Eastern European boutique store for mechanical watches and other luxury goods on two stories of a tenement house. The store, which opened up on September 24 last year, covers an area of around 200 sqm. But it’s not just stores that are entering the Pl. Trzech Krzyży area. There are new monuments too. In June last year, the Free Word Memorial was unveiled on ul. Mysia underneath the former communist government office for the censorship of the press. Here’s one we did earlier This is not the first revitalization project that KSP has been involved in. The company whetted its appetite for such projects with the purchase of the Pl. Małachowskiego office project from Hochtief Development in 2012. However, the building was not actually handed over to KSP until October last year, when the extension and renovation work had been completed. The project comprises the Count Raczyński townhouse together with a newly built wing. The project offers over 13,000 sqm of office space as well as 1,400 sqm of retail. But as Adam Czyżewski, the director of the National Ethnography Museum in Warsaw explains, the project would not have come about were it not for a large number of organizations: “A number of neighboring institutions were involved in the process of revitalizing Pl. Małachowskiego, including the National Museum of Ethnography in Warsaw, the Zachęta National Gallery of Art, the Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Warsaw as well as Hochtief Development Poland and Kulczyk Silverstein Properties, which adapted the Count Raczyński townhouse into a high-class office building. A coalition of institutions was created which invited the authorities of Warsaw’s Śródmieście district to cooperate, and it is still working today. Its objective is to return functionality to this part of Warsaw by presenting this modern city square.” A multitude of projects But this is not all that is happening and will happen to Warsaw. Over the past few years, many of Warsaw’s historic city center buildings have been modernized, despite their scarcity resulting from the destruction caused by  World War II. In 2013, Warimpex finished renovation work on the 4,900 sqm Le Palais office building, a project which was sold to IVG Warschau Fonds that same year. For Maciak, this project was one of the best such projects in Warsaw. “Le Palais, located at ul. Próżna 7-9, has been an undeniable success story, fulfilling all the criteria for a revitalization project. Prime location, a combination of historic structures and new office wings provide both excellent office quality and trendy surroundings. The office building was pre-purchased during its construction, which proves that demand for such projects exceeds available supply,” he enthused. Another such project was Lipiński Passage on Al. Jerozolimskie, which was sold to Union Investment in 2010 after renovation work on the building had been begun by Reinhold Polska. The former tenement house now offers around 3,400 sqm of office space with a retail area of over 2,000 sqm. Strong appetites What is it that makes such projects so attractive? “The additional risks, such as restitution claims or restrictions imposed by the office of the curator of historic buildings, are mitigated by the exclusive location, correspondingly higher quality fit-out materials, higher rents and occupancy rates, especially when compared to the wider traditional office market,” said Maciak. And indeed this is not the end of the projects that are in the pipeline. Polish developer Capital Park is currently investing in the Art Norblin project. On completion, the project should offer over 39,000 sqm of office space and a retail area of over 22,000 sqm in a former factory on ul. Żelazna. “Capital Park decided to buy the site of the former Norblin factory primarily because of its location, practically in downtown Warsaw, and because of its enormous potential,” explained Kinga Nowakowska, manager of the revitalization project for the former Norblin factory. This is one of the projects that should help extend the city’s central business district further into the outskirts of the Wola district. Another project of note is Hala Koszyki, a former market hall that is being renovated to a design by the JEMS Architekci architectural studio. Eventually, the project is to offer 2,500 sqm of office space as well as a retail and service area of 6,000 sqm. “We would like Hala Koszyki to regain its previous splendor as well as its former importance. Before the war, it was among the most popular places frequented by the residents of Warsaw,” explained Joanna Drygalska, a representative of Griffin Real Estate, the investor behind the project, which is scheduled for delivery in the third quarter of this year. New York comes to Warsaw At present, Pl. Defilad which lies just next to Warsaw’s Palace of Culture in the very heart of the city, remains completely undeveloped. This is where the city plans to build the new building for the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw. The planned building will also house the Teatr Rozmaitości theater. The Thomas Phifer and Partners architectural studio of New York won the competition that was held to select the architectural design for the new building. Nearby, on Al. Jerozolimskie, the Cedet building is now undergoing a complete renovation. For many years, it housed the iconic Smyk children’s store, but now it is being redeveloped and extended by Immobel Poland and will eventually offer 15,000 sqm of office space and 7,000 sqm of retail space. Taken together these projects could one day restore part of Warsaw’s former glory and return much of the original architecture of the city back to its people.