Griffin Group acquires market hall project in Warsaw

Real estate investment manager Griffin Group has acquired Hala Koszyki, the restoration of the historic market hall in the heart of Warsaw. The investment volume for the transaction was not disclosed.

The vendor was Irish property developer-investor Avestus Real Estate.

Avestus - formerly Quinlan Private - has had plans since 2006 to transform the indoor market by developing three buildings comprising 10,000 m² of retail space and 160 apartments. But the company ultimately decided to sell the Koszyki site to concentrate on other projects in Poland.

Colliers International represented Avestus in the transaction.

Warsaw-based Griffin Group is a joint venture between Cornerstone Partners and Chelsfield Partners. The group has three business lines focused on real estate in Central and Eastern Europe: Griffin High Street (retail); Griffin Property Finance and development via Griffin Residential and Griffin Development.

In a statement, Griffin Group said it intended to continue the restoration of the historic property in order to create a landmark in the Polish capital, which it said would give 'new life' to the neighbourhood.

Architectural firm JEMS Architekci is to design the concept which will provide for a modern retail area surrounded by office buildings. Griffin Group said it would present the final plans for Koszyki before year-end.

Koszyki is the latest in a string of investment by the group in Poland in the last two years.

The company purchased a 37-hectare plot of land in late-2010 near Warsaw’s Natolin Park, where it is developing a luxury single-family housing estate. Last November the company closed the acquisition of seven investment plots with a total potential of nearly 150,000 m² of office premises, commercial outlets, and apartments.

At the beginning of 2012 Griffin Group took ownership of the Prima Court office building in Warsaw, and in April the company added an investment plot in Gdansk to its portfolio.

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