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The first stage of the development in the Bora-Komorowskiego St. to be completed in Q4
Krakow is one of the Polish cities seeing the greatest number of office buildings being constructed. Approximately 240,000 sq m of office space was commissioned in our city in 2005-2007. Last year broke the record in this regard. In the middle of the year, city authorities projected that over a dozen new office buildings would be constructed in Krakow in the coming years.
Krakow, the capital of the Malopolska region, attracted the intereste of both domestic and foreign private investors in real estate. Several new buildings are under construction right now, and the Architecture and Urban Planning Dept. of the Municipality had almost 15 applications for permits at the beginning of the fourth quarter. The city does not have one location zoned strictly for such developments only. Office buildings are being constructed in all districts with the exception of the Old Town.
According to CB Richard Ellis, an international company whose operations include real estate market monitoring, some 20 new office buildings with 127,000 sq m of usable space are to be built in Krakow by 2009. These plans are now being revised to some extent due to the changes in the global real estate market.
Ouattro Business Park
Office buildings - their construction and leasing - is mainly of interest to high-tech and financial service companies. Multinationals like Motorola, Shell, Capgemini, Electrolux, Lufthansa, IBM, Philip Morris, Ahold, Google and other already operate centres in them. A large proportion of major tenants occupy offices constructed by the Buma Group, which has become the most important player in the office building market in recent years.
This company has built the Rondo Business Park with 18,000 sq m of lettable space and the Buma Square Business Park (28,000 sq m) as well as Onyx (6,000 sq m): altogether 52,000 sq m.
A complex of four office buildings called the Quattro Business Park with 48,000 sq m of office space is currently under construction. (The total area is greater: over 92,000 sq m). In the future, the development will comprise 4 buildings. Currently it is in its first stage, which means the construction of the first building, with 14 floors, just like the others. "We are not worried about this project, which is among the largest in Krakow, as we have secured bank loans for it" - emphasises Piotr Michalski representing the BUMA Group. “In the last quarter we have seen some potential tenants holding off signing the contracts, probably waiting to see how the situation will develop. We are optimistic, as Krakow - an important location for educating personnel for financial and accounting centres - has a guaranteed high position in this market segment.”
The development will meet the highest standards of equipment and metering. It will offer offices from 200 sq m to 1,900 sq m in area. The first of four stages will be completed in the fourth quarter of this year. The success of the Buma Group in office construction is to a great extent due to Piotr Michalski, a young, energetic graduate of the Kraków University of Technology, who coordinated and supervised the construction of all subsequent buildings.
“In 2003, when this market practically did not exist in Krakow, it was not easy either to control the construction process or to find tenants. I think that this experience will come in useful in the future as well” - he stated laconically.
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