Warsaw Rising: The Historic City is Getting a Starchitect's Touch

by Arabella Youens, The Telegraph, March 1, 2017

From the 49th floor of Zlota 44, the Daniel Libeskind-designed tower, the charms of the Polish capital aren’t immediately obvious. The city of just 1.7 million people lies on the rather unremarkable delta of the River Vistula, which bisects Warsaw, dividing the historic, established “left” or western side from the edgy, traditionally working-class “right” bank.

Hitler’s army was responsible for razing 85 per cent of the city’s historic buildings to the ground during the Warsaw Uprising in 1944; the Soviet era which followed left its own indelible mark in the form of functional housing blocks.  

At this height, the views are almost unimpeded – with the weighty exception of the Soviet-built Palace of Culture and Science. That the two buildings eye each other across the street in the modern city centre is no accident.

When Stalin ordered the building of his 750ft-tall “people’s palace”, he had an area of central Warsaw the size of the ancient city of Krakow cleared for the job. Its presence today – graffiti-clad exteriors and cathedral-esque marble ballrooms that lie empty save for the odd Formica-topped table stacked in a corner – divides opinion.

When the Polish-American architect Libeskind was invited to design a new skyscraper for the city, he embraced the opportunity not only because it was the first project in his homeland since leaving in the fifties but also because of its location.

“Zlota was the chance to design a building in response to another era,” he says from his New York office. “It’s not just another residential building; symbolically it’s about freedom.”

While Libeskind was born in Lodz (his parents were both Holocaust survivors), as a boy he would visit relations living just a few streets from Zlota. “I’ve got many pictures of my sister and I standing in front of the colossal piece of Stalinist propaganda. We look like two mosquitos,” he says.

Soon, the Palace will be overlooked by half a dozen glass skyscrapers in an architectural manifestation of the future of the city. This marks a golden opportunity for property investors, agents believe. According to the residential advisory firm REAS, newer developments enjoy strong demand from a growing population, rising income levels and a near-dearth of alternatives for high-end buyers (70 per cent of the existing housing stock was built before 1989).

Average rental yields prove attractive, too: at 8.5 per cent, they significantly outperform London, which averages between 2-5.5 per cent. Zlota buyers so far have hailed from the UK, Spain, Ukraine and Germany, but most have Polish family or business links.

“Warsaw is a hidden investment hotspot for Brits and other investors looking for value in Europe post-Brexit,” says Jeff Stonger of Amstar, the Colorado-based investment firm that owns Zlota 44. “Apartment prices per sq metre, especially within the luxury market, are at a fraction of other major cities across the globe.”

The Polish capital is proving more of a magnet for the all-important luxury segment of the market than Berlin. In November, Savills ranked Warsaw fifth on its hit-list of cities for expanding international retail brands – the only entry from central eastern Europe.

The reception room in a Zlota 44 apartment looks out over the Polish capital

If you look more closely at the streets and squares where a (weather-permitting) café society is beginning to breathe life into the somewhat bleak streetscapes, there are signs of this nascent growth. Hala Koszyki, which opened in October, is a covered market hall where you can buy fresh produce or eat in a variety of different restaurants and bars in the vein of Barcelona’s La Boqueria.

Speakeasies such as Bez Tytulu serve sophisticated cocktails, and coffeehouses such as Bistro Charlotte are expanding. “This city is really changing,” says local businessman Tomasz Andryszczyk. “Five years ago, the restaurant scene was rather poor but it’s constantly changing as top Polish chefs return from working in London or other capital cities to set up places at home.”

The regeneration continues. The Raffles-operated Hotel Europejski, set on the Royal Route in the centre of town, is due to open this year; a little further down this historic street, a high-end shopping area is being built on Three Crosses Square.

The action isn’t exclusive to the city centre. Across the river in the historic working-class and once neglected Praga district, where some scenes from The Pianist were filmed, there is a considerable programme of revitalisation under way.

Hargreaves Lansdown announced this week it will open a technology hub in Warsaw by mid-2017, and there’s the rebuilding of the Koneser vodka factory, home to Campus Warsaw, one of six Google-owned entrepreneur hubs worldwide. Initiatives such as the Soho Factory, a performing arts space, are transforming the area and attracting younger, well-educated residents.

At the centre of Praga Koneser is a 19th-century building that is being converted into 300 loft-style apartments; prices are approximately £186 per sq ft. Just to the south lies Saska Kepa, an affluent area of pre-war villas and one of the city’s most beautiful parks. Expats choose it for its easy links to the city centre and the international schools nearby.

“With values still low and yields high, combined with an evolving city showing continued growth, it’s a no-brainer for investors to put their money into the Warsaw property market,” says Stonger.

 

This article was written by Arabella Youens from The Telegraph and was legally licensed through the NewsCred publisher network. Please direct all licensing questions to [email protected].