Helical Bar's Polish arm has secured construction financing for Europa Centralna, its flagship retail project near Gliwice in Poland. The company was granted a loan of EUR 72 mln from Aareal Bank for the 67,000 m[sup]2[/sup] scheme which will open in late spring 2012.

Helical Bar's Polish arm has secured construction financing for Europa Centralna, its flagship retail project near Gliwice in Poland. The company was granted a loan of EUR 72 mln from Aareal Bank for the 67,000 m2 scheme which will open in late spring 2012.

Europa Centralna will combine the concept of a shopping centre and retail park on a 26-hectare site. Located at a large motorway interchange, the scheme will have a catchment area of over 4.9 million people within one hour driving time. Key tenants will include brands such as Tesco Extra, Castorama, Media Expert, Reserved, Rossmann, Kakadu, Super-Pharm, H&M and KappAhl.

Enabling works on the site and off/site road connections are almost completed and the main contract for the project will be awarded early in 2011, with phase I planned for opening in 2012. The scheme is being commercialised by Helical's leasing team together with King Sturge and Colliers International.

Helical Poland was founded in 2005 by UK-based Helical Bar to take advantage of the growth potential of the Central European markets. The company operates from offices in Warsaw and Krakow and specialises in retail warehousing and shopping centre development. Helical Poland's first project, Park Handlowy Mlyn was completed in December 2008 in Wroclaw. Helicar Poland is also developing a second scheme in the city, the 40,000-m2 Turawa Park, which was financed by Standard Life Investments and is due to open in March 2011.