Panattoni Park Łódź East – cornerstone laid

Panattoni Europe, Poland's leader in the industrial property market, is now developing building five at Panattoni Park Łódź East. The new facility will offer 24,000 sqm, of which 16,200 sqm has already been taken up. The first tenants are: BSH Sprzęt Gospodarstwa Domowego sp. z o.o., which has leased approx. 11,000 sqm, and GEFCO Polska with 5,500 sqm. At full build-out, the complex will comprise as much as 187,000 sqm. The ceremony to lay the cornerstone for the new investment took place at the park on 24 July.

Panattoni Europe has embarked on the fifth and last stage of construction at Panattoni Park Łódź East. It is a 24,000-square-metre facility, featuring solutions designed for a diverse tenant base. This is reflected by the first contracts. Approximately 11,000 sqm have been leased by BSH Sprzęt Gospodarstwa Domowego sp. z o.o. - a Polish subsidiary of BSH Bosch und Siemens Hausgeräte GmbH, the largest manufacturer of home appliances in Europe, present in Poland with such brands as Bosch, Siemens, Gaggenau and Zelmer. "The acquisition of a larger warehouse space is due to the consolidation of our logistics operations in the Łódź region, which in turn was caused by BSH's integration with Zelmer and the development of our export production", comments Paweł Trojanowski, Logistics Director at BSH Sprzęt Gospodarstwa Domowego.

The other customer of the park is GEFCO Polska, part of GEFCO Group, a leading provider of industrial and automotive logistics, specialising in innovative global solutions for finished vehicle logistics, freight forwarding by sea, air and land, multimodal transport, warehousing and returnable packaging, as well as customs and tax representation. According to Aleksander Zacirka, Transport and Warehousing Director GEFCO Polska: "The launch of our logistics platform in Łódź is an important step in our development strategy for general cargo, domestic and international. The Łódź platform will serve as the central hub of our network in Poland and consolidation point for consignments to Russia and Eastern Europe. Moreover, the enhanced fire resistance of the building will enable us to offer dedicated solutions in contract logistics."

In Central Poland, Panattoni Europe has as many as four modern distribution complexes (Panattoni Park Łódź East, Panattoni Park Business Center Łódź, Panattoni Park Łódź South, Panattoni Park Stryków), totalling 340,700 sqm at full build-out. Comments Bartłomiej Krawiecki, Managing Partner Panattoni Europe: "This figure shows how attractive this region is to warehouse and production tenants, if only for its location and good transport infrastructure. What is more, it is anticipated that Łódź and its surrounding area will enjoy increasing interest from tenants due to the construction of the motorway (A1) between Stryków and Tuszyn."

"Panattoni's decision to carry out another project in Łódź proves the strong position of the Łódź market and its excellent prospects for future growth - says Hanna Zdanowska, Mayor of Łódź - Transport and logistics are some of the most important and promising business sectors in Łódź. It is great to see more and more companies realise the potential of our city and decide to invest in Łódź. On my part, I can promise my support in the execution of projects which boost our city's economic development."

Upon completion of construction works, planned for the end of this year, Panattoni Park Łódź East will comprise as much as 187,000 sqm. The general contractor for the present stage of the project is Kajima Poland. The park itself lies in the direct vicinity of the Łódź East interchange of the A1 motorway (Gdańsk-Cieszyn), as little as 10 km from the city centre. Its advantages have not gone unnoticed by industry specialists - in December 2013 Panattoni Park Łódź East won the Prime Property Prize of Łódź voivodeship. The distribution centre received recognition not only for the wide range of solutions in warehousing, logistics and distribution, but also for its impact and the role it plays on the commercial property market in Łódź voivodeship. The facility was also honoured by the jury of the CIJ Awards 2013, naming it as the "Industrial Development of the Year".

At present, Panattoni Europe is developing more than 300,000 sqm of new warehouse space in Poland, including two facilities for Amazon in Poznań and near Wrocław. Since the beginning of this year, the developer has delivered approx. 100,000 sqm of space in projects dedicated to such companies as Castorama Polska (50,000 sqm in Stryków) and Polaris (33,600 sqm). In turn, the leases signed in Q1 and Q2 2014 amounted to as much as 169,246 sqm.