Hines starts construction of first project in Krakow

US property company Hines has started construction of Apartamenty Novum in the centre of Krakow, its first project in the southern Polish city.

The 400-unit multi-building apartment complex is situated on a 4.8-hectare site acquired in October 2011 by Hines and Heitman. Hines recently opened an on-site sales office. Pricing for the apartments starts at 7,800 Polish zloty ($2,450) per m² for an unfinished apartment. In the second half of 2012, Hines will introduce options for apartment finishes. Project completion for the apartments is expected at the end of 2013.

Wojciech Rumian, managing director for Hines Poland, said the start of construction on Apartamenty Novum is 'not only a happy ending to a complex acquisition process, but also a beginning of a long-term presence of Hines in Krakow and a hope for subsequent investments’.

Hines entered the Poland real estate market in 1997 with the development of Metropolitan, a Class A office building located at Pilsudskiego Square in Warsaw, which received the MIPIM Award in Cannes in 2004 for the Best Office Building in the World.

The company also developed the Impresja apartments in Wilanow. Currently, it is developing the Quattro Towers residential complex in Gdansk.