Cushman & Wakefield has been cooperating for nearly three years now with PKP S.A. in the process of commercial development of the State Treasury's properties. Katowice Osobowa railway station in Katowice and Wschodni and Zachodni railway stations in Warsaw are only a few investments in which Cushman & Wakefield have participated as a consultant.
The cooperation has already brought about benefits in the form of acquiring investors for a number of key projects.
Jerzy Dobrowolski, Head of the Advisory Department of Cushman & Wakefield, explains: "The aim of this cooperation was to provide advice and support in the selection of the investor who would set up a special purpose vehicle with PKP SA and develop new schemes or modernize the existing ones located on plots of land near railway stations".
The first stage of cooperation on the commercial development of Katowice Osobowa railway station has been successfully completed. It has resulted in the selection of a Spanish investor, Neinver, which, as a partner of PKP, will be responsible for the construction of the complex, featuring a railway station, a bus station, a retail and services center and a business and cultural center.
Cushman & Wakefield has advised on this investment project, considered as one of the most significant in the Central European real estate market, during the negotiations with potential investors on the main forms of cooperation, methods of project realizations, the value of investments outlays or project financing conditions with performance guarantees. Cushman & Wakefield's team of experts has also took part in the preparation of investment memorandum for the prospective investors or the required conditions for the new scheme.
Cooperation does not end here. Within the long-term cooperation on the project in the first half of September this year Cushman & Wakefield was appointed an exclusive agent for the commercialization of Katowice railway station shopping gallery.
Cushman & Wakefield has extensive experience in shopping center commercialization. An experienced team, which cooperates with most international retail developers, has been responsible for commercialisation of Zùote Tarasy, Galeria Mokotów and Promenada in Warsaw, Galeria Malta and Stary Browar in Poznañ, Galeria Kazimierz in Cracow, and Centrum Bielany Wrocùawskie and Arkady Wrocùawskie in Wrocùaw.
"In the case of PKP properties, apart from Katowice railway station shopping gallery, we are currently conducting process of commercialization of a modernized railway station in Tarnów. We have also prepared commercial space development plans for a number of railway stations including Przemyúl, Gliwice, Ýywiec, Zawiercie or Myszków," said Katarzyna Michnikowska from Advisory Department of Cushman & Wakefield. "They have enabled us to define the most effective tenant mix strategy for the PKP scheme."
Further large projects, in which Cushman & Wakefield cooperated with PKP SA and advised on the investor selection, are Wschodni and Zachodni railway stations in Warsaw.
"In the case of Zachodni railway station the investor has been already chosen. Nexity, a French company, is to develop an office and services complex as well as to modernize the railway property," said Dobrowolski. "As for Warsaw's Wschodni railway station, the negotiations with investors have not resulted in signing a joint venture agreement with PKP. None of the investors has decided to do so, however, it seems possible that the talks will be soon resumed."
"In this particular case we have implemented plan B, i.e. we have prepared commercial space development plan for the project with refurbishment and modernization of the existing building," adds Michnikowska.
Cushman & Wakefield is supporting the company on the acquiring investors not only for railway station facilities. "We have advised on the selection of business partner for the company's office building, located in the center of Katowice at Al. Roêdzieñskiego, close to Spodek. The aim was to find a partner that would take over the mu
