Colliers International and JLL to sell Warsaw Trade Tower

Warsaw Trade Tower - the tallest office building in Central Europe - has been put on the market, representatives of the owner, Akron Investment Central Eastern Europe II, announced on Tuesday. Property agents Colliers International and Jones Lang LaSalle have been jointly mandated to handle the sale process.

Akron Investment Central Eastern Europe II is a closed-end fund which acquired the property at end-2006 in a EUR 150 mln transaction.

Warsaw Trade Tower is located to the northwest of the city centre. It provides over 45,000 m² of Class A space and rises 43 levels over 208 metres. The property is home to major international office tenants including KPMG, American Express, Mattel and AXA, which recently renewed its lease through 2020.

Warsaw Trade Tower was delivered in 2000 and designed by US architectural firm RTKL Associates. The tower is expected to benefit significantly from Warsaw's new east-west metro line when it opens in 2014.

'Given the prominence and excellent quality of the Warsaw Trade Tower, we anticipate good interest in the sale process,' said Tomasz Trzoslo of Jones Lang LaSalle who, together with Neil Gregory-Eaves of Colliers International, will handle the sale process.

'The compelling combination of Poland's ongoing economic growth and Warsaw's low city-centre office vacancy rate supports the WTT offering,' added Gregory-Eaves. 'The property is one of the few core office assets currently for sale in the city centre'.

The Warsaw Trade Tower offering follows on the heels of the announcement that a joint venture between Allianz Real Estate and Tristan Capital Partners will acquire the Warsaw Financial Center (WFC), which was also marketed for sale by the same team of agents. The WFC is 143-metres high and comprises 50,000 m² of office space.

The Allianz-Tristan JV is paying around EUR 210 mln for the WFC.