Skanska, the Swedish-headquartered construction and real estate development group, has purchased 3,000 m2 of land for €43 mln to construct an office project in Warsaw.
The company also bought the Warsaw One project, designed by the previous owner, which is destined to replace the Ilmet office building which currently stands on the site.
Skanska’s latest purchase in the Wola district was preceded by the opening of the Atrium 2 scheme located on Pereca Street as well as the acquisition of a land plot on Lucka Street. Skanska’s two biggest office projects – Generation Park near Daszynskiego Roundabout and Spark on Towarowa Street – are still under development. This means that Skanska's completed and pipeline projects in Warsaw's business district exceed 350,000 m2, twice the size of Warsaw's Palace of Culture and Science.
'We have been building in Warsaw over the last 20 years. Projects by Skanska can be found throughout the city, including a significant part of Aleja Jana Pawla II Street. Furthermore, our new buildings will soon become an integral element of the newly defined Towarowa Street area,' said Arkadiusz Rudzki, managing director at Skanska Property Poland.
'The purchase of Ilmet is another step toward establishing a portfolio containing the best land plots in the city. We will thoroughly analyse opportunities for the appropriate management of the area. There are several possibilities, none of which have been excluded. Most of all, we want this symbolic location of the city to include architecture that fits in with the surrounding area and fully meets the expectations of Warsaw's residents,' Rudzki said.
The Ilmet office building was developed in the late 1990s. In 2011, new land management approaches were adopted, resulting in the building’s owner deciding to replace it with a 188-metre high skyscraper designed by the Danish architectural studio, Schmidt Hammer Lassen. This scheme, dubbed Warsaw One will supply up to 60,000 m2 of space. The Ilmet office building currently represents around 20,000 m2.
Skanska Commercial Development Europe initiates and develops office property projects, focusing on the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania and Poland.
In the transaction process the seller was advised by Knight Frank.
