Warsaw complex saga continues

The opening of the Zlote Tarasy Centre in Warsaw, Poland has been postponed again, developer ING Real Estate has announced. It was due to open in next month but this has been pushed back to the first quarter of 2007.

This is not the first opening date the mega 205,000 m² multifunctional project has failed to meet in the last few years. Work on Zlote Tarasy (Golden Terraces) began in 2001 and was originally due to be ready in 2005. That date was scrapped after an administrative court repealed planning permission on the request of Polish environmentalists.
The delay at the centre led to the resignation of Paul Trip as ceo of the development division at ING Real Estate in November 2005.

A new opening date fixed for spring 2006 was pushed back to the second half of the year to await the completion of the cinema complex.

Zlote Tarasy comprises of three office buildings, an eight-screen cinema, three floors with retail and a restaurant and a four-level underground car park. One of the office buildings is over 100 metres high.

Rodamco Europe is to buy 50% of the project, exclusive of the hotel, on a turnkey basis. The other 50% remains in the hands of ING Real Estate. The investment volume for the project is around #E400 mln.

Rodamco issued a short statement on Monday acknowledging ING Real Estate had notified it of the new delay. Further questions were referred to ING Real Estate.

ING Real Estate blamed the postponement on the contractor, Skanska. It said Zlote Tarasy Sp.zo.o., which is developing the centre, decide to postpone because the contractor, Skanska, had not honoured its contractual obligations to have the centre ready by 1 November this year.

'We deplore that, in spite of incentives offered by us, Skanska has not been able to deliver the technical installations for the centre timely,' said Marcel Kooij, managing director of Zlote Tarasy Sp.z.o.o. He said his office would work with the prospective tenants towards an opening date in the first quarter of 2007. The exact date has yet to be announced.

ING Real Estate said it expected the postponement would not have an material impact on its results.