WFC owners eye demand for large space in Warsaw

Daniel Harris of Tristan Capital Partners tells PropertyEU about plans to add more office space and high-end retail to the Warsaw Financial Centre (WFC). Tristan and Allianz Real Estate jointly acquired the 144-metre tower for €210 mln in the largest single-asset office deal in Central and Eastern Europe during 2012.

Allianz holds an 87.5% share in the iconic building with Curzon Capital Partners III, a fund managed by London-based Tristan Capital Partners, holding the remainder. Tristan is also responsible for the asset management.

Both companies had initially considered bidding on their own for the WFC but both sides wanted to share the risk and already knew each other from previous transaction activity, Harris said.

'We are happy to do big transactions, but because this was a big transaction involving a single building we felt at a very early stage that we wanted a partner. Allianz also wanted a partner with on-the-ground experience and the ability to asset manage. So that's what brought us together really.'

The key asset management opportunity is to have fewer rather than more tenants at the WFC, he added. 'We feel there is a lack of large space available in the Central Business District and we want to provide that to the market.'

When the WFC was built in the 1990s there were very few amenities in the area and therefore a gym, news agents and a large restaurant on the seventh floor were included.

Harris: 'We feel there is an opportunity to transform some of this community space into office space. We are currently talking to several tenants about taking this seventh floor we are creating.'

Another element of the make-over is to add more high-end retail to the ground floor. 'Nothing major but there are quite a few little things we can do,' Harris said.

Tristan has in addition embarked on the process of obtaining LEEDS sustainability certification for the WFC.

For more on the WFC transaction, see the PDF below.