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A RT I C L E
The system transformation at the beginning of the 90’s initiated
was the start of a new era for all sectors of the economy, including
the real estate. The fledgling Polish business sector adapted old
office buildings from the 70’s and the 80’s for its purposes, while
foreign investors establishing their businesses in Poland would
look for office to suit their needs and status. However, the market
was a risky place and there were only few developers that were
brave enough to invest on a large scale. Centrum LIM (the buil-
ding whose tenants include the most easily recognizable hotel in
Warsaw, i.e. the Marriott) dictated the terms, and rents achieved
a level of USD 50.00/sq.m/month. Not everyone remembers how
difficult it used to be to find a decent office at the beginning of the
90’
s, when the diaries of property managers for Centrum LIM and
Intraco were full of names put on the waiting list and the waiting
time for available space could be as long as few years, lease agre-
ements were unilateral and typed up on typewriters with a blank
space for the date and signature, and the costs of returning the
premises to their original condition would be fully covered by the
tenant. All a leasing agent had to do was to open the premises,
hand over the agreement for signature and collect the deposit.
The majority of companies took residence in old office buildings
and small offices in tenement houses and private houses and villas
modified for office purposes.
However, the absence of modern office space, high demand
and horrendously high rents drew new investors. At the out-
set, it was only the city centre that attracted their interest. It was
then that first modern office buildings were developed, including
SwedeCenter with the first Ikea store in Poland, IPC and Warsaw
Corporate Center.
The real construction boom started in the second half of the
1990
s, when the increasing globalization and privatization of
the Polish economy acted as a drive for the real estate market.
Investors started looking for locations other than Warsaw city
centre and the first business park, now Empark in Służewiec
Przemysłowy, was developed at the site of old manufacturing fa-
cilities. And it was only a little while earlier that Warsaw’s residents
would travel there to shop at the furniture and Turkish clothing
wholesale outlets located at Cybernetyki and Postępu.
In 2000 the construction boom stopped as a result of the econo-
mic recession and global slowdown on the world’s market. It was
then that we first realized, how dependent we were on what was
going on in the world and that the construction eldorado was not
to last forever. Warsaw’s office market had come a full circle and
rents stabilized to a certain extent. It became apparent that not all
that has the word “office” in its name can be leased.
The next strong impulse for further growth of the office market
over the following 5 years was Poland’s accession to the European
Union in 2004. 1.2 million sq.m of office space was launched in
Warsaw between the years 2004 and 2009, with another 1 million
sq.m in the 8 largest regional cities. It was then, when trust in our
Never too much
of a good thing?
A history of booms
and recessions on
the Polish office
market against the
background of an
oversupply crisis on
the capital’s market
A cityscape could have changed so drastically
over the course of only few years;
there is steel, glass, prominently
displayed logos belonging to organizations that employ thousands of young people
