A quarter of rental apartments will be built in the heart of the capital city

A quarter in downtown Warsaw is soon to be transformed into a complex of apartments for rent. The entire segment of the institutional rental market is growing in strength. Meanwhile, in Berlin, where this offer has long been available, residents have supported the expropriation of corporations and the socialization of apartments.

quarter for rent

photo by Kacper Kepinski

In the very center of the capital between Nowogrodzka and St. Barbara streets is located a complex of office and technical buildings, in the past belonging to Telekomunikacja Polska and later Orange. In recent years, the entire site was acquired for 350 million zlotys by Zeitgeist Asset Management, a company known for its investments in dormitories and apartments for rent. The acquired complex includes a 1933 tenement building, the historic 1931 Post and Telegraph building and a 22-story technical skyscraper from 1975.

momentum

The developer has just received permission to convert the first office buildings into rental apartments. Zeitgeist has also announced an internal procedure for selecting an architectural concept for the entire site, which is expected to be completed in the coming weeks. Representatives of the investor said they will consult with the city and interested parties on the ideas. The first to be redeveloped will be the buildings at 2a and 6/8 Barbara Street, and the first residents will move in there as early as early 2023. This is another redevelopment in Warsaw that is being carried out by the investor - work recently began on the adaptation of an office building into a dormitory located on Solec. However, not all work in the center will be able to start quickly. The tech skyscraper towering over the neighborhood Orange is not scheduled to hand over to the investor until 2026.

an outstanding work of modernism

photo Public Domain / Wikimedia Commons

The most valuable building included in the acquired development quarter is undoubtedly the Telecommunications Office building, designed in 1928 by Julian Puterman-Sadlowski. Located on the corner of Poznanska and Nowogrodzka Streets, it was one of the largest public buildings completed in those years. Its complex functional structure and modern, constructivist mass housed the offices of the Ministry of Posts and Telegraphs, intercity telephones, telegraph and radiotelegraph, as well as a post office, a teletechnical school, a museum and social facilities. The building is under conservation protection.

photo: Zeitgeist press materials

subscription apartment

Apartment rental corporations are offering a new type of lease on the Polish market - the so-called subscription. At the moment, the segment of this type is small, about 4,000 apartments, but by 2023 it is expected to be almost double that number. The largest operator, Resi4Rent, plans to eventually invest in 10 thousand subscription units. Their prices are similar to those offered for regular rent, but the contract is subcontracted with the company, not the apartment owner. The units have standard furnishings and utilities, and often provide technical assistance and repair of defects. Tenants are not supposed to be afraid of landlord raids, and having pets is not a problem.

harmful monopoly

photo: Zeitgeist press materials

Such a rental model in its initial phase may seem attractive, diversifying the market offer. However, it is not able to replace the economically accessible and for diverse audiences housing policies of cities and the state. Buying up entire blocks or building new apartments for rent, operators expanding their stock will also have an increasing influence on market prices. Their monopoly, in turn, may lead to further price increases and, as a result, a reduction in housing availability. This has happened in many Western European cities. In Berlin, rental prices from 2004 to 2017 rose by about 70%, influenced by housing corporations.

berlin expropriates

Protests in Berlin

Photo: Deutsche Wohnen & Co. Enteignen Facebook

At a time when developers investing in rental housing in Warsaw and other major Polish cities are just getting off the ground, Berlin is just coming to grips with the impact of their activities. In a September 26 referendum, 56.4 percent of those eligible supported the idea of expropriating corporations that have monopolized the rental market in the German capital. Over the years, more than 220,000 apartments have fallen into the hands of such operators, almost half of which are owned by just one company, Deutsche Wohnen.

success of residents

Protests in Berlin

Photo: Deutsche WOhnen & Co. Enteignen Facebook

As the initiators of the Deutsche Wohnen & Co. Enteignen, the average tenant loses about 177 euros a month to the corporation's shareholders. The socialization of the housing stock would put an end to price hikes and affect a reduction for residents of some 240,000 units. Noteworthy, most of the housing owned by the corporation today is a privatized communal resource. Cooperatives are not to be expropriated either, and the buyout of apartments from corporations with compensation is allowed by the German constitution. The referendum is not binding on politicians, but it is the beginning of a path. It is also a great success for the grassroots movement, whose spokeswoman is Dr. Joanna Kusiak, a sociologist and author of Chaos Warsaw, among other books. In Bernin's history, no grassroots movement has received so much support, and more people voted for socialized housing than for any political party.

Kacper Kępiński