A group of investors from the USA and Switzerland have bought a majority stake in the Reform Company, owner of the Reform Plaza and Reform Center buildings in central Warsaw. The value of this property is assessed at around USD200m.
This is the largest property transaction on the Warsaw property market with the new owners aiming to increase the prestige of the Reform Plaza office building and create a entertainment and shopping complex in the Reform Center.
The Reform Plaza office building is currently 55 percent let and includes clients such as weekly magazine Wprost, Dresdner Bank and the French cosmetics retailer Sephora.
Jacques Tourel, head of the World Trade Center Warsaw, from the investor group, said that the management of the building will change in order to increase the attractiveness of it and that three extra lifts would be installed and 520 parking spaces made available. Furthermore Reform Plaza could also find itself with a new name.
The Reform Center, which is located on Aleje Jerozolimskie near the western railway station (Dworzec Zachodni), at 190,000sqm will be the largest shopping and entertainment centre in central Europe and the third largest in all of Europe. To put it into context, it will be four times larger that Galeria Mokotów. The investors expect that the building will be ready in 18 months time and that the funds are now in place from BIG Bank Gdański. It is estimated that the cost of building one sqm will be around USD200, putting the required bank loan at USD38m. An independent retail consulting company has estimated that over 25m visitors will come to the centre each year.