By Shefali Anand
A new business center is blooming in Warsaw's Wola district, an
area best known until now for the infamous role it played during
the city's uprising in World War II.
Major multinational firms JPMorgan Chase & Co., Citigroup
Inc., Goldman Sachs Group Inc., and Credit Suisse Group AG have
leased big blocks of office space in the former manufacturing
district in recent years. Other tenants include professional
services firms Deloitte, Marsh & McLennan Cos., payments firm
Mastercard Inc. and France's BNP Paribas Securities Services.
In the next three years, around 420,000 square meters (4.5
million square feet) of new office space will be delivered in this
area -- around half of total new supply coming up in Warsaw,
according to CBRE Group Inc., a real-estate services firm. "The
expansion of the city center might in the future lead to treating
[this] region as the center of Warsaw," said Miko aj Sznajder, a
director at CBRE in Poland.
The building frenzy reflects high demand for offices coming from
international companies for information-technology, back-office and
other operations for global clients.
Poland has long been a favorite for these operations, thanks to
its relatively lower labor costs compared with Western Europe,
availability of skilled talent and membership in the European
Union. Until recently, most of the large shared services operations
were set up mainly in small Polish cities, such as Kraków and Wroc
aw, which are even cheaper.
"Recently, Warsaw has become a very strong player in this," said
Arkadiusz Rudzki, managing director of the Poland office unit of
Skanska AB, a Sweden-based construction major.
One reason for Warsaw's recent popularity, said Mr. Rudzki, is
that banks and financial companies are looking for alternatives to
diversify their operations away from London, following the U.K.'s
vote to leave the European Union. "They're saying, where can we
move where the operation is still within this time zone and within
three hours by flight" from London, he said.
Warsaw also comes up as a favorable alternative to attract
specialized staff from other countries. "Companies are moving their
employees from London, Frankfurt, Madrid and they are offering them
a much higher quality of life," Mr. Rudzki said.
Developers have targeted Wola in recent years to build modern
office space as Warsaw's central business district has become more
congested, and demand for office space has increased.
Historically a manufacturing hub, Wola in the Warsaw Uprising of
1944 was the site of a massacre of more than 40,000 Poles by German
troops. A museum dedicated to the uprising is now situated in the
area.
After the war, the area slowly returned to its manufacturing
roots. In the late 1990s, some developers started buying land in
Wola to build homes.
Later the area was discovered by office developers. In the five
years ended 2017, around 220,000 square meters of office space was
delivered in Wola, more than twice the amount delivered in the
previous five years.
Most of the new construction is centered within a
one-square-mile area around Rondo Daszyńskiego, a roundabout where
a new metro line opened recently, providing more commuter access.
More residential buildings are also being built in Wola, providing
an option for office workers to live close by.
Both domestic and foreign developers are cashing in on the new
demand. Skanska, based in Stockholm, currently has two large
projects under construction in Wola -- the Generation Park complex
and Spark buildings -- with more than 150,000 square meters of
office space.
Last year, one of the buildings in the Generation Park complex
was completed and Citigroup's Citi Service Center Poland moved into
it to occupy 19,000 square meters -- 5,000 square meters more than
Citigroup had planned to lease a few months earlier.
Other Skanska tenants include a unit of Credit Suisse Group and
multinational law firm DLA Piper. Skanska said rents in its offices
have gone up by 10% to 15% in the past five years.
Meanwhile, vacancy rates have gone down. Wola's vacancy rate is
around 4%, compared with nearly 11% for Warsaw overall, according
to CBRE.
Last fall, J.P. Morgan Chase leased 15,500 square meters in a
building in Wola, for an operations center that will employ more
than 2,500 people. Also last year, Ernst & Young Global
Delivery Services leased three floors in the 20,000-square-meter
Proximo II, a new office building by American developer Hines. In
February, developer Echo Investment SA said beauty company L'Oréal
will take up 7,000 square meters in its coming office complex
called Browary Warszawskie.
The Warsaw Spire, one of Poland's tallest buildings at 220
meters (about 720 feet), was completed in Wola in 2016 by
Belgian-Polish developer Ghelamco Group. Its tenants include
Goldman Sachs and Samsung.
In April, a fund managed by Madison International Realty LLC, a
New York-based investment firm, bought a 50% stake in the Warsaw
Spire.
Ronald Dickerman, founder of Madison International Realty,
expects demand for office space to get stronger. Poland's strong
economy, positive demographics and low operating costs have created
a "very favorable environment for operating businesses," he
said.
Write to Shefali Anand at shefali.anand@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
June 05, 2018 09:33 ET (13:33 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2018 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Marsh and McLennan Compa... (NYSE:MMC)
과거 데이터 주식 차트
부터 9월(9) 2024 으로 10월(10) 2024
Marsh and McLennan Compa... (NYSE:MMC)
과거 데이터 주식 차트
부터 10월(10) 2023 으로 10월(10) 2024