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A RT I C L E
market increased, that investors became brave enough to develop buildings that were in the
end to becomeWarsaw’s symbols that will not age even after 20 years. Rondo 1, Metropolitan,
Liberty Corner, Focus, Saski Crescent and Lumen are the core of the best buildings in the city.
Their erection completely changed the surroundings, frequently very neglected as in the case
of Rondo ONZ, Grzybowska and Rondo Jazdy Polskiej.
The construction boom extended then to other cities on the wave of the emerging out-
sourcing services. Kraków, Wrocław, Poznań and the Tri-City started to establish their
place on the map of global locations for service centres. Modern office buildings were
developed that transformed the centres of those cities, although the predominant share
of capital came from local investors. For it was Polish companies that knew those markets
well enough to invest in better facilities, assess an investment from a point of view other
than only an Excel table and revolutionize their cities, even if that meant taking a risk.
The financial crisis initiated by the fall of Lehman Brothers
made its way to Poland in 2009 and shook and threw the
office market off balance for another 2 years. However,
Poland, relying on its strong internal market escaped
that episode unscathed and strengthened its position.
Therefore, the market quickly returned to a growth phase
in 2010. The years 2013-2014 saw an abundance of new
office developments and an extremely strong supply plan-
ned for the years 2015-2016. Nonetheless, a lesson has
been learned and the new buildings are now increasingly
better designed and constructed with greater care. The
designs come fromworld-class architects that are now to
be found in Poland too.
Thus, undoubtedly, the Polish office market, and in par-
ticular the Warsaw market, has matured. It is certainly
more resistant to fluctuations resulting from external
economic shocks. The structure for demand for office
space changes in line with the global trends, however its
growth has for years now been stable. Nevertheless, the
most important achievement is the trust exhibited by fo-
reign investors and Polish businesses; trust shown in the
economic conditions, as well as the state authorities. This
is why increasingly better developments that transform
Warsaw, Gdańsk and Łódź are possible. This is why our
cities are becoming increasingly modern and attract in-
terest from the outside.
I am extremely pleased that Warsaw’s landscape no lon-
ger includes the illegal parking lot at Rondo ONZ, the
old Mercure hotel at al. Jana Pawła II, the old factory bu-
ildings at Towarowa and Prosta, the black second-hand
outlet at Rondo Daszyńskiego, the market and the com-
puter bargain center at Al. Jana Pawła II or the booths
and metal folding kiosks, as well as the Marcpol hall at
Pl. Defilad. Gdańsk no longer has the Chemia plant at Al.
Grunwaldzka, while Kraków has rid itself of the old slau-
ghter house in the Kazimierz district, the Bonarka Tannery
and numerous other architectural nightmares. I hope that
old and ruined tenement houses will also disappear and
revitalization will give them a chance to return to their
old glory. I certainly hope that the Universal building at
Rondo Dmowskiego will disappear, as will the fenced-off
building sites that have been like that for years and that
do not seem to be ever ending. I also hope to see the
end of the “skeletor” building in Kraków. There is a good
chance and the conditions are increasingly more promising that we will not have to wait for as
long as another 25 years for the above to take place and no one will be too afraid of too much
of a good thing in real estate.
Daniel Bienias
Senior director, Head of Tenant Representation, CBRE
History of the Polish modern office space market in brief:
•
No properties following the 1989 system transformation, Warsaw’s business centre mar-
ked out by Centrum LIM
•
High rents and extremely low supply up until the mid-90`s Office market boom in the
second half of the 90`s related to the quick growth of the economy. Beginnings of the
business district in Służewiec (GTC – Empark as an alternative for the exorbitantly expen-
sive city centre)
•
Economic recession and office market slowdown after 2000 resulting from the state of
the global economy
•
Poland’s accession to the EU in 2004 leading to a dynamic growth of the office market
over the following 5 years
•
Lehman Brothers crisis that made its way to Poland in 2009 and shook and threw the
office market off balance for another 2 years
•
Return of the market to a growth phase in 2010. No reaction from the Polish economy
to the budgetary crisis in Greece, further tenant expansion
•
The years 2013-2014 – an abundance of office developments; extremely strong supply
planned for the years 2015-2016
CONCLUSION 1
–
So far,Warsaw’s officemarket reactedmainly to external economic shocks.
At the moment we may be dealing with the beginning of a classic busi-
ness cycle generated endogenously (i.e. by the economy’s internal mar-
ket mechanisms)
CONCLUSION 2
–
Tenants continue to show a growing tendency and despite an oversupply
of office space with which we will be dealing over the next 2 years, there
are very positive growth prospects for Warsaw’s office market
