Polish Shopping Centre Fund develops three malls

The Polish Shopping Centre Fund is developing three Focus Park malls in the country and has seven other projects in the pipeline. The EUR 1 bn fund was established in November 2005 by Parkridge CE Retail and Morley Fund Management, which acted on behalf of the three Norwich Union Life Funds. King Sturge London is acting as investment and development consultant. The shopping centres, aimed at both international and domestic tenants, have pre-let levels of about 84%.

The first development in Rybnik, southern Poland, will open in the third quarter of 2007. The centre has a total area of 43,600 m² and a gross lettable area of 17,500 m². It has 79 retail units arranged over three levels with 320 parking spaces. Some 91% of the project has been pre-let to a wide range of tenants, including Alma, Multikino, Reserved, Douglas, C&A and New Yorker.

A second Focus Park at Bydgoszcz, 255 km north-west of Warsaw, is scheduled to open in the second quarter 2008. The shopping centre has a total area of 88,600 m² and a gross lettable area of 40,500 m². It has 133 units and 890 car parking spaces. Some 84% of this project has already been pre-let to tenants including Alma, Cinema City, H&M, Douglas, Reserved, New Yorker, Euro Apteka, Zara, Intersport and Saturn.

The third Focus Park is situated at Zielona Gora on the west side of Poland. This shopping centre, which is also due to open in the second quarter of 2008, has a total area of 48,000 m² and a gross lettable area of 28,500 m². The centre, with 115 retail units, is prelet to tenants including Cinema City, Alma, Reserved, Douglas and Media Markt.