Untapped potential
By : Chris Rivituso
It sits on Aleje Jerozolimskie, the massive gray structure with the slanted roof and the large, neon letters that spell out Warszawa Centralna, also known as Dworzec Centralny.
It is not pretty. It is not welcoming. But it is imposing at 75,000 square meters. Warsaw's largest train station, Centralna serves as a crossroads not only for Poland but also for East and West. It is a place of business for many, home to some and temporary way station for much of the population. Despite that omnipresence, Centralna is not a place most people want to linger in.
Homeless people and drug addicts often sleep in the halls and on the platforms. Crime is on the rise, further fueling the perception that the station is a dangerous place to be. Dodgy taxi drivers ready to rip off unsuspecting travelers with enormous fees do little to help the sense of security. The entire building reeks of stale food and dirt. And everything is gray.
"I don't like it," said Stanislaw Modrzewski, 36, a native of Gdansk, as he waited one morning in the station's large main hall, a colorless room with 25-meter-high ceilings that have not been cleaned in years. The bleakness of the train station, he said, is many people's first impression of Warsaw. "It's the first contact with the city," he added.
Despite its dreary appearance, many developers, business executives and merchants said that Centralna might be one of the most promising pieces of real estate in the capital. Or at least one of the most underutilized.
The station, which attracts 100,000 people a day, already houses hundreds of businesses. Some are international retail chains, such as French Hachette's walk-in newsstand and McDonald's, the latter of which is part of the maze of underground tunnels, but technically not on Polish State Railways (PKP) territory. Most others are local vendors operating food kiosks and bookstores. All, however, say that business is brisk, which makes developers wonder why neither the city, local government or station operator PKP have made any effort to clean up or refurbish, or maybe even tear down, the station to make better use of the prime location in the heart of Warsaw. Centralna, they said, could be a mecca for retail in a city in which few sites are available in the center.
"The location is convincing enough," Jan A.M. van Hensbergen, managing director of developer ING Real Estate, said about further development potential for the station.
The station's current state has not gone unnoticed in the upper echelons of PKP administration. "For certain there are plans to change the character of Warszawa Centralna," said Slawomir Rozanski, head of PKP's real estate department in Warsaw.
But any real plans for major changes at Warszawa Centralna are little more than a dream for the financially ailing railroad, which lost approximately zl. 2 billion ($512.8 million) in 1999. PKP is the sole source of funding for the station. While Rozanski could not say what the station's annual budget was, he did reveal that it was in the "millions," used primarily for upkeep.
Little of use
Opened for service in 1975, Centralna has not evolved in the decades that have passed. Ideally a depot for travelers, the station does little to inform out of towners of the possibilities in Warsaw and beyond. In fact, little information exists besides large display boards in the main hall with column after column of train times and types all in PKP jargon. There are no desks offering accommodation or telephone numbers. It is even hard to find a city map. The newest features are the relatively young arrival and departure boards. All other signage, such as labels of streets or directions through the tunnels, are obscure. Navigating the way to the city's suburban rail station, Warszawa Srodmiescie, which is located through a series of underground tunnels at the unwelcoming end of platforms, is difficult.
PKP officials acknowledge that the station is lacking. "It has been let go," said Leszek Ruta, director of PKP's division of InterCity trains.
For city officials trying to promote Warsaw, however, the station is an obvious blight. "The lack of architectural discipline is harmful for the city," said Warsaw Vice Mayor Olgierd Dziekonski, who is responsible for transport issues in the capital. "From the urban development point of view, this station is a relic of history."
Whether a high-ranking city official or a simple passenger, the opinion is unanimous change is necessary for the 25-year-old station. And while ideas have ranged from completely demolishing the station and building something new in its place, or even building a multifunctional building on top of the already existing structure, the question of what to do with the station has yet to be decided.
"I think it is a period when it (the station) is searching for its identity," Dziekonski said.
Developers have some ideas for how that identity could be better defined. Grzegorz Pekalski, leasing director with real estate developer Cefic Polska, said that he would split the station into two pieces one for the railway and the other to be turned into a multi-screen movie theater. That new development could house everything from modern shops to even a multiplex cinema, he said.
Multifunctional could be a key word for both the station and surrounding neighborhood, developers said. Many mixed retail, office and entertainment complexes are being built in the area surrounding Centralna. If the station is to seize the opportunity that its location and traffic presents, then operator PKP must do something soon, developers said. Otherwise the station risks being overshadowed by other developments in the neighborhood.
In late 2000, ING Real Estate plans to start construction of a 200,000-square-meter multifunctional center, called Zlota Centrum, which will be between the station and the Holiday Inn, van HensBergen said. The center, which has a projected completion date of 2003, will combine office and retail space as well as a hotel and multi-screen cinema. The project will also extend to the underground, where approximately 1,600 parking spaces will be built. The investment is expected to cost DM 700 million-DM 800 million.
"It would help Dworzec Centralny if someone looked at this place from a commercial point of view," Pekalski said.
While PKP has held talks with the city and some investors about joining forces for a possible development, nothing has materialized.
Times are not easy for PKP. Along with its severe financial condition, the railroad is in the beginning stages of privatization. A bill on restructuring, commercializing and privatizing the railroad is currently in Parliament, with passage hoped for within the year. This has been a cause of much concern and confusion within the railroad, and has also clouded any future plans such as what to do with Centralna.
"From a PKP perspective there are more important issues," Pekalski said.
Captured audience
While nobody interviewed could give an exact number, PKP and police officials said that there were as many as several hundred retail points located in the station and surrounding tunnels. The points vary from simple vendors selling goods out in the open to more sophisticated computer stores selling Microsoft software.
Warszawa Centralna sees 100,000 people passing through the station each day, some 30,000 of whom are headed to other points within Poland, according to PKP officials. The remaining are typically only passing through to other parts of the city. That traffic also consists of the approximately 85-120 trains that stop at the station each day.
"It is one of the best places" in Warsaw for retail, Ruzanski said.
While numerous retail outlets already exist, developers questioned the quality of that retail. International chains such as Hachette are there, but the majority of stores are small communist-style stalls selling detergent, cosmetics, newspapers and other odds and ends.
Hachette last June opened a 52-square-meter newsstand now called Relay in the station's main hall. The store attracts about 1,000 patrons a day, said Dorota Karnkowska, head of promotions and communications with the company.
"Centralna is a very good place to be seen," she said. "It is our best location and best outlet we have."
Hachette so far has been the only Western company located in the station itself McDonald's is in one of the surrounding corridors. Another Western fast food chain, American Restaurant Services (ARS), operators of KFC, is also thinking about opening a spot in the station, PKP's Ruta said.
Jerzy Becz, development manager for ARS, declined to comment on whether the company has an interest in opening up an outlet at the station. But he did say the company finds that the station's traffic makes it an attractive location. "The number of people passing by, we can gain something from it," Becz said.
Karnkowska said that while her company has found the station satisfactory, she said she thought PKP could do much more to promote Centralna. She suggested allowing advertisers to post more billboards in the building.
Advertising executives agreed that pedestrian traffic makes the station a good point for billboards, but that station management has never pursued it. "They're never really proactive in looking for advertising opportunities," said Greg Paine, head of media company Universal McCann. He said the number of professionals passing through Centralna every day make the station ideal for business-to-business ads, such as for computers or telephones.
Before any of that happens, though, Pekalski said the station needs a face-lift if it wants to attract any new Western businesses. "If it is developed then, yes (new retailers and advertisers will come)," he said. "If it is not developed then no, for sure."
The railroad may not have the funds to undertake such a project, but Pekalski said that PKP could fairly easily improve the station by signing a long-term lease agreement with a developer. Opening up the space to development could even bring in extra funds for the railroad, he said.
The idea may seem doable, but Warszawa Centralna will face some formidable challenges in improving its retail in coming years, part of which stems from PKP's own development plans. In addition to being crowded out by Zlota Centrum in the neighborhood, Centralna may also face a challenge to its status as Warsaw's main train station. PKP has a long-term plan of allocating East-West traffic to Centralna's counterpart Dworzec Gdanski, a source from the railroad's administration said.
Another world
Any modern development in Centralna, however, will have to share the space with the microcosm of society that currently exists there. Many individuals make their livelihood in Centralna, selling everything from clothing on makeshift tables to passing out leaflets. Others rely on passersby for handouts. All say that the quality of life in the station could be improved.
Jaroslaw Iwaniuch, 20, is studying in Warsaw to become a customs officer while working part time at the station, selling shirts in an open corner wedged between two kiosks. Conditions in the relatively open station can be harsh, particularly when the temperature drops, but Iwaniuch said the zl. 800 a month he earns pushing shirts at Centralna is roughly double what he can make in his hometown of Wegorzewo, located in northeastern Poland near the border with Kaliningrad.
While Iwaniuch said he does not have any real qualms about the station's administration, he has other complaints. "Sometimes the homeless disturb clients," he said.
But at the same time, Iwaniuch said he does not find the station to be a threatening place. Other vendors said the same, despite the fact that crime is actually on the rise.
"I feel safe," said Wanda, declining to give her last name. Wanda sells waffles in a kiosk near one of the station's main entrances.
But one thing she did complain about was the number of alcoholics and drug addicts that congregate in the station's halls. "Somebody should do something about these people," she said.
Along with the problems with drinkers and drug addicts, she said she has noticed a general deterioration of conditions at the station during her seven years working there. "The surroundings are horrible," she said.
Retailers denied being subjected to any direct organized crime and none interviewed said they feared being harassed. Waldemar Szczepanski, deputy commissioner of the press pool at Warsaw's police headquarters, could not give exact crime statistics for Warszawa Centralna, but he did note that reported incidences of crime on PKP property rose to 2,071 in 1999, up 24% from 1998. Petty theft was the most often reported crime, with incidences jumping 27% to 1,052 in 1999. But the most disturbing statistic is the rise in the number of violent attacks, up 168% in 1999 to reach 230 reported incidents.
Jolanta, 28, is from Lithuania but lives in Otwock and during the day works at a kiosk in Centralna. She spends 13 hours a day, seven days a week selling food to travelers. While she thought security could be improved, she had a difficult time deciding what exactly the station needed. "It's hard to say," she said.
One thing that would help, Jolanta thought, are a few coats of paint and new lighting, which would at least make the place a little cheerier.
