Ambient walkways for pedestrians with cafes and restaurants, a hotel, offices, and apartments. All of these will be built as part of the first stage of development of the part of New Center of Łódź, located between the newly built Łódź Fabryczna train station and the EC1 Centre for Science and Technology. Ghelamco Poland, the project’s developer, has obtained a valid building permit.
The development project of the New Center of Łódź was presented at the Łódź stand at MIPIM fair in Cannes.
Ghelamco will deliver the investment in three stages. As a part of the first stage, a new area of the city will be built, comprising a hotel, offices, apartments, and commercial outlets. Ghelamco has obtained a valid building permit for delivering the hotel and office part of the project. Ultimately, three buildings will be erected as part of the first stage. The hotel will be situated the nearest to the train station, whereas the residential building will be located by the EC1 side. The office building will be constructed in between. The ground floors will include food amenities and commercial outlets. Construction works are scheduled to start in Q3 or Q4 2018. The project was designed by PIG Architekci.
The hotel will offer 166 rooms, the office building will provide 18,000 sqm of space, and the residential building will offer around 70 apartments. According to the local spatial development plan, the buildings will consist of seven floors.
Importantly, carefully designed walkways will be created between the buildings. Numerous commercial spaces will be available there, such as cafes, wine bars and restaurants. This will make the New Center of Łódź generally accessible and friendly to pedestrians. The walkways with commercial spaces will be created also as part of subsequent stages of the project.
An parking lot will be created under the complex and will be connected with the underground road between the Ghelamco’s project and EC1. The city of Łódź is now preparing to announce a public procurement procedure for the construction.
“I am delighted to see another investment in the New Center of Łódź, particularly other than office space, such as hotel and apartments, much needed in this part of the city. I would also like to thank Ghelamco that it once again believed in the potential of the city of Łódź. With this investment we can see that we have a sound vision of the city’s growth, which is confirmed by the investors themselves,” said Hanna Zdanowska, Mayor of the City of Łódź.
“Łódź is a city with a great potential. Its location in the heart of Poland, at the main communication routes crossing, dynamically growing service sector, historical character and most of all, educated and open-minded people make the city very attractive and perspective for investments. Łódź becomes one of the leading regional markets in Poland, with almost 440 thousand sqm of office space, at the same time with the lowest vacancy rate at the level of 9.5 percent,” said Jeroen van der Toolen, Managing Director CEE, Ghelamco. “We put strong emphasis on the development of the New Center of Łódź. It is an extremely significant and exciting project for us. We attach a great importance to public space. We want to create here a vibrant part of the city which will become an excellent place for work, leisure and living here,” he added.
City-forming leader
It is not Ghelamco’s first city-forming project. The Belgian developer has broad experience in developing top-quality public space. The flagship example is the Warsaw Spire office complex with Plac Europejski (European Square) in Warsaw. In the post-industrial area of the city, generally available, vibrant public space, with fountains, greenery and street furniture, was created. The place enjoys huge popularity among Warsaw residents, who recognized it from the residents’ award in the contest, conducted as a part of the prestigious Architectural Award of the Mayor of Warsaw. Ghelamco’s engagement was also appreciated by juries of Polish and international contests, in which Warsaw Spire and Plac Europejski received numerous, prestigious awards, including among others, MIPIM Awards 2017 (the “real estate Oscar”), the Polish Town Planners Society award, and CEEQA 2017.
New Center of Łódź
The New Center of Łódź is one of the biggest urban planning challenges in the city’s history and one of key elements of downtown revitalization. The project’s concept was launched in 2006, and shortly afterwards, in 2007, the Łódź councillors unanimously voted in favour of creating the New Center of Łódź. More than 100 ha of space will feature office buildings, restaurants, arts and entertainment facilities. The New Center of Łódź is intended to be a representative part of the city, a safe and friendly place for residents and tourists, with limited car traffic, pleasant appearance and high-quality architecture.
