Who is erecting new office buildings and where? Which of those investments will be placed into service soon?  Below we present an overview of new investment projects undertaken in Szczecin.

Three Technopark Pomerania buildings at ul. Niemierzyńska will be placed into service in the fourth quarter of this year.  Potential lessees will have 5.5 thousand square meters of office space at their disposal.

Two other office blocks in Piastów Office Center will also be ready within the next 12 months.   They will provide 11.5 thousand square meters of space. “We already have lessees for Building B that will be placed into service in June this year” – explains Agnieszka Kołodziejczak of RealKapital, the entity that owns Piastów Office Center. “A very large company whose name must remain anonymous for the time being is among the lease candidates.  We are very pleased with how this investment is developing and that is why Building C will also be placed into service right on schedule, i.e. in June next year.  

The building construction of the future headquarters of Alkon, an agency for property and individual protection in Szczecin, will be completed at ul. Firlika during the first quarter of 2015. The building will provide over 2 thousand square meters of commercial space (class B) on four floors for office, service-related and commercial use.  

Furthermore, a new office building will be constructed by Mark Invest at al. Wojska Polskiego, on the site previously occupied by the old movie theatre. Potential lessees will have 2.3 thousand square meters of office and commercial space at their disposal. Based on the investor’s information, the design of the interior furnishings will comply with A+ standard. Kosmos Centre will be placed into service on 30 June 2015.

A new office, commercial and residential building consisting of three sections called Storrady Park Offices is currently under construction at ul. Sorradty Świętosławy.  The main building of the complex (A) provides 5000 m2 of useable floor space thanks to alteration and upward extension of the old Power Station structure.  Commercial and office open space is available for lessees on five floors.

Building B – the so-called Needle – will be located inside of the investment area and it will consist of four floors.  Its entire useable floor space, i.e. 310 square meters, is earmarked for commercial and office use.  The complex also includes the third office building which has already been built. According to the schedule, the first state of the investment should be completed in 2015.

100 thousand square meters within the span of several years?

The projects that will be completed after 2015 are already under way.

“The construction projects that will be placed into service later than in 2015 can be labelled as the third wave of office buildings in Szczecin. They include  Szczecin Odra Park to be completed at the turn of the years: 2016/2017 and old SCR tenement houses which are to house offices, commercial and service points.  Speaking cautiously, the former Posejdon department store building can also be perceived as part of the said third wave. I would also include Buildings B &D of Baltic Business Park and Hanza Tower in this group (the investment of JW Construction).” – says Mieszko Czarnecki, the regional director of Colliers International in Szczecin. 

According to the assessments made by Colliers International, even up to 100 thousand square meters of new space will have been available in the city by the year 2019, which in aggregate will increase the total lease space up to 200 thousand square meters. “Only when we arrive at these figures will we be able to say that Szczecin has become a mature office market.” – adds Mieszko Czarnecki.


The first office space wave has been leased

The majority of the office space in the newly erected buildings has already been leased.

20 thousand square meters of space is still waiting for lessees in the Baltic Business Park complex. According to the architectural designs, four office blocks will appear in this location. Two have already been placed into service, and half of the space is already leased, among others to:  Unicredit, JVP Steel Poland, Ergo Hestia and Dansk Supermarked A/S. In total, circa 600 persons have found employment there. A private kindergarten has also been opened.

“We are currently in the process of negotiations with strategic lessees, but I cannot disclose any details yet.” – says Krystian Surmacz, a real estate specialist from Baltic Business Park. “We may only say that we are talking both to the representatives of businesses that need office space and to entities providing food-related services.”

Lastadia Office block located in Łasztownia was placed into service a year ago. Over 80 percent of the 11 thousand square meters of space located there has already been leased, inter alia by:  Best Logistics, Home.pl, Renttrans, Europejski Fundusz Leasingowy, JP Klausen, AXA, SGI and Business Link. All of the lessees are already conducting their operations, with the exception of Business Link that is still in the process of arranging its offices for the needs of the business incubator.  The latest joiner is Szczecińska Energetyka Cieplna that is planning to move its three offices - previously situated in three separate locations - to Lastadia.  In total, Szczecińska Energetyka Cieplna has leased 2.4 thousand square meters and the office move is scheduled for next year.

Sandra Szkwarek, a brand manager at SGI S.A., ensures that the building owner continues negotiations with other potential lessees as well.   She is unwilling to share the names of candidates or other details, but she is positive that the building will be fully leased by the end of June this year.

8.4 thousand square meters – this is the office space on offer in the first of the three blocks that will make up Piastów Office Center.  Over 7.5 thousand square meters has already been leased, with Arvato company and Calypso fitness club occupying the largest areas.  Apart from the above, IAI and Geomar – companies representing the IT sector – are already conducting their operations in the building.  Recently, Europa Systems - a company that furnishes warehouses – has opened its office there too. “Only relatively small, single units are left, and we want to lease the largest of them on the ground floor - 500 square meters - to a banking sector company.” – explains Agnieszka Kołodziejczak of RealKapital.

SwedeCenter has erected two office buildings in the very heart of Szczecin.  In total, Brama Portowa I and Brama Portowa II (the so-called: Grzybek) offer approximately 13 thousand square meters of office and commercial space. The investment was placed into service in October 2012. The following companies are among the lessees: Deloitte, ING Bank, Genpact, Starbucks and ZDiTM. LuxMed and PKO BP bank have opened their offices in the old ‘Post office’ building.  “We have managed to lease over 40 percent of space in ‘the Post office’ and over 85 percent in ‘Grzybek’ building." - rounds up Ewa Łydkowska of SwedeCenter.  We are in the process of negotiating further contracts”.

Echo Investment, the owner of Oxygen building, states that the block has been leased in full - Tieto, Coloplast, Enea, Medicover and Open Finance already have their headquarters there. “Only some random units, not larger than 50 meters in area, are left. Thus, we consider the building occupied.” -  - says Wojciech Gepner of Echo Investment.

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