Briefs

Multikino to operate in Szczecin

Multiplex operator Multikino is to operate the 9-screen cinema in Echo Investment's 42,000 sqm 'Galaxy' shopping and entertainment centre in Szczecin, North-West Poland. The centre is slated to open in the 2nd quarter of 2003. Multikino is a division of Polish media company ITI.

Eastbridge signs for Wola Park, Cushman & Wakefield Healey & Baker to manage

Netherlands based Eastbridge NV has signed with CERPF (Central European Retail Property Fund) to lease 2,535 sqm in the 73,000 sqm (leasable) Wola Park retail and leisure scheme. Department store chain Galeria Centrum will take 1,100 sqm, music and print retailer Empik will take 850 sqm and toy-store chain Smyk will occupy 585 sqm. This leaves Wola Park with c.75% leased or under offer, a figure which includes the 30,000 sqm dual level Auchan hypermarket. Cushman & Wakefield Healey & Baker will launch their retail management service in Poland by managing the scheme, although this was not officially confirmed. A cinema operator has yet to be signed.
Concerning the centre management, French Canadian retail centre operator/manager Ivanhoe Cambridge was originally expected to manage Wola Park but the company has since withdrawn from CERPF, which consists of Jones Lang LaSalle, Bouygues and Lehman Brothers. An Ivanhoe representative, however, said that as far as he was concerned the company would still be involved in Wola Park's centre management and wasn't aware of Cushman &Wakefield H&B's involvement. Sean Briggs, Head of Marketing and Leasing for CERPF, wouldn't comment, but it's understood that the fund had concerns about Ivanhoe's capability on the ground in Poland to manage the retail centre.
The scheme, located in the west Warsaw district of Wola, is due to open in September 2002 although construction is still at the shell stage. According to Tatiana Siemieniuk, however, retailers have ordered their autumn collections on the assurances of CERPF that the centre will open on time. The fund is keen to stress that the neglected greenhouses and gardens of neighbouring Ulrich Park will be restored, and the former mansion will be converted into a themed restaurant, for which talks are underway with a restaurant operator. On completion Wola Park will be the largest retail and leisure centre in Warsaw until the arrival of Cefic's 115,000 sqm (leasable) Arkadia Shopping Centre at Babka roundabout between the centre and Zoliborz, slated to open at the beginning of 2004. GTC's Galeria Mokotow centre is currently the largest in Warsaw at 48,000 sqm (leasable), with the 11,000 sqm phase II due for completion in October this year.