After years of trying on, a sailing center will be built at the South Pier in Gdynia. In addition to the new headquarters of Gdynia's clubs and infrastructure for sailors, investment apartments will also be built.
Plans to build a modern sailing complex have been floated by the Polish Sailing Association for many years. Today, at Gdynia's yacht harbor, the headquarters of sailing clubs are located in buildings that are long past their prime, and the entire area needs to be cleaned up. It's been a decade since a nationwide architectural competition for the new development was decided. Studio Kwadrat from Gdynia won, and the project included not only the construction of facilities for sailing clubs, but also restaurants, offices, a spa and a hotel with 200 rooms. Nothing came of these plans, however. The reason? The association failed to obtain financing.
Sailing clubs, but also "accommodation apartments"
Thevisions floated by the PIF took shape again when the association signed an agreement with a Belgian developer in 2021. Ghelamco bought back 80 percent of the shares in Nowa Marina Gdynia, a company set up by the association, which formally owns the site. As a result, the architectural concept and development guidelines have changed.
The buildings will house the headquarters of Gdynia clubs and the PZŻ, as well as "accommodation units"
© Ghelamco
As part of the Ghelamco and PZŻ investment, three buildings with a total usable area of nearly 20,000 sqm are planned. In announcements sent out to the media, the developer states that there will be:
Theheadquarters of Gdynia clubs and PZ Ż enriched with an extensive infrastructure for sailors, including premises overlooking the harbor and marina, meeting the expectations for sailing events organized in Gdynia.
Among other things, the facility will be equipped with hangars for storing yachts, as well as an underground garage.
The aforementioned "premises" have not been given much attention, and one gets the impression that the development will mainly feature infrastructure for sailors. Instead, as part of the project, in addition to space for sailing clubs - "service units" are planned , which the developer plans to commercialize and sell after construction. In practice, these are investment apartments. Apartments can't be built there, because the local plan for the area calls for commercial development and marine tourism services. However, Ghelamco refused to give A&B information on how many such units it plans to build and what portion of the total investment will accrue to the PFA. The company's press office only conveyed that the sailors will occupy the "lower floors," while the units for sale will be on the upper ones.
PIG Architects project
The Nova Marina Gdynia project was selected through a closed competition for the architectural concept, to which five Polish studios were invited: APA Wojciechowski, Arch-Deco, BBGK Architekci, PIG Architekci and ROARK Studio. The jury included architects and representatives of the City of Gdynia, the Polish Sailing Association and Ghelamco. The winning concept was that of PIG Architekci studio.
The building's architecture is the result of a long cooperation with the city's authorities and the city's conservation officer, thanks to which together we have developed a thoroughly Gdynia-based design, which we hope will become the center of Polish sailing ," saysJarosław Zagórski, managing director of Ghelamco Poland.
The priority was to provide the best possible concept for sailing clubs and statutory space related to the activities of the Polish Sailing Association, says architect Michal Lah, a board member of the PIG Architects studio. - A complex of hangars and club spaces, combined with the requirements of the local plan to provide maneuvering space on the side of Beniowskiego Wharf, shaped its southern part. This layout was intersected on all floors by two view axes, which formed public spaces in the form of passages. Their purpose was to provide a scenic and functional connection between the South Pier axis and the sailing pool.
Tomasz Chamera, president of the Polish Sailing Association, announces that construction is scheduled to begin at the turn of the year.
The project was designed by PIG Architekci studio
© Ghelamco
This is a significantly modernized concept in relation to previous versions, resulting firstly from a completely new model of business cooperation between the Polish Sailing Association and Ghelamco Poland, but also from a new architectural concept for the project itself , he said.
