BIG Polska, a subsidiary of the international BIG Shopping Center group, has successfully completed the acquisition of the Silwana retail park in Gorzów Wielkopolski. The purchase, valued at over €40 million, marks one of the most significant transactions in the Polish commercial property market this year.
Developed by Equilis and Acteeum Group, Silwana retail park in Gorzów Wielkopolski will be rebranded as BIG Gorzów and will join BIG Polska’s esteemed portfolio as the fifth retail investment alongside projects in Łubna near Warsaw, Lublin, Andrychów, and Ostróda.
The grand opening of BIG Gorzów is scheduled for 22.08.2024, with an extensive promotional campaign preceding the event. The opening festivities will feature live concert, performances, interactions with Stal Gorzów speedway riders, and a many of family-friendly activities such as face painting, art zones, and entertainment for children.
“The acquisition of the retail park in Gorzów Wielkopolski is excellent news, not only for us as an investor, but also for the tenants and residents of the city. As with other properties owned by BIG Poland, our goal is to create a favorite shopping destination that is bustling with life and full of entertainment for entire families. Our activity in the Polish market, where we have built a portfolio of five great-located investments in just less than two years, confirms our desire for growth and establishes us as a leading player in the retail park sector in Poland. In every project under the BIG Poland brand, we build good long-term relationships with our tenants and the local community, giving them an excellent shopping experience. We keep the same in Gorzów Wielkopolski, where we are already working on a grand opening, investing in marketing and advertising, planning attractions for our guests,” said Eran Levy, CEO of BIG Poland.
As a real estate developer, selling an asset prior to its opening is a major achievement, and we are very proud of it. This is the first sale for our second fund, Duodev 2 , since its creation in 2022. It confirms the quality of this retail park, developed by Equilis, acting in its capacity as the preferred partner of the Duodev 2 fund.
Equilis has proudly developed notable shopping centers, including Docks Bruxsel in Brussels (2016) and Finestrelles Shopping Centre in Barcelona (2018), both earning BREEAM “Excellent” certifications. Galeria Chelm in Poland achieved a BREEAM “Very Good” certification. Demonstrating leadership in promoting environmental and societal choices, Gorzów, the largest retail park in the Lubuskie region will be the first in Poland to receive a BREEAM “Excellent” certification. We will pursue our development strategy in Poland in retail and residential. After Galeria Chelm and Galeria Andrychów, this is the third retail park developed by Equilis in joint venture with Acteeum, a top partnership – says Olivier Beguin, CEO Equilis Europe.
“We are proud to see the final touches being done on the construction site of our retail park in Gorzów Wielkopolski. We believe, that with its perfect location, great tenant mix as well as timely construction this project marks its own quality. We are particularly satisfied with bringing new brands to Gorzow, e.g. Decathlon, Jula and Half Price, which together with other tenants will make our project the most expected and desired shopping location for customers from Gorzów and surrounding area.
We are even happier, currently concluding the takeover process. Acquisition of this retail park by such a noble investor as BIG Poland, even before opening, is a straightforward confirmation that we, jointly with Equilis, did a remarkable job developing this project. We strongly believe, that since very first day after opening under the BIG brand, BIG Gorzów will steal hearts and minds of the local community”. – says Tomasz Szewczyk, Managing Partner of Acteeum Central Europe.
Situated on an 8-hectare plot in Gorzów Wielkopolski, BIG Gorzów will house 40 diverse retail outlets across 25,000 sqm of Gross Leasable Area (GLA), complemented by 800 parking spaces. The park is strategically located to serve 160,000 residents and visitors, boasting convenient accessibility from major roads.
BIG POLAND is part of the international BIG Shopping Centers group, founded in 1994 in Israel by Yehuda Neftali. The group focuses on developing, operating, and investing in retail parks, shopping centres, logistics parks, office projects, residential projects and renewable energy. The company operates in Israel, Serbia, Montenegro, Romania, the Czech Republic and Poland. The BIG brand has been present on the Polish market since 2022 and owns three fully commercialised retail parks in Łubna near Warsaw, Lubin and Andrychów. BIG Polska is consistently pursuing an ambitious growth plan in Poland with a number of projects related to the planned opening of new retail developments under the BIG brand across the country.
More information about BIG Polska can be found at www.bigcenterspoland.com and on the company’s profile on LinkedIn
EQUILIS it is a Belgian company founded in 2006 and present in Poland since 2016. It operates in Spain, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany and Poland. It specialises in retail and residential real estate; in Poland, Equilis has built Galeria Chełm, Galeria Andrychów, and is planning the first Fokus Ursus residential development in Warsaw. Globally, Equilis also stands for revitalisation projects, seniors’ homes, dormitories or public spaces. Equilis’ motto is to build places where people create their happy stories. We are convinced that Silwana will be proof of this.
Read more: https://equilis.net/pl/
ACTEEUM CENTRAL EUROPE is an international company operating in the commercial and residential real estate market. Acteeum handles the entire development process comprehensively, from the identification of suitable land for development, through the design, construction and commercialisation stages, to the management and sale of facilities. The company has worked for many years with large institutional partners, including CBRE Global Investors, Immofinanz, NepiRockcastle, BPI, Equilis, BIG Shopping Centers, Falcon Investment Management, as well as private investors.
Thanks to its many years of experience and excellent knowledge of the commercial real estate market in Poland, Acteeum has gained a leading position in the construction of shopping centres, especially retail parks in the ‘Power Center’ format. Acteeum’s position in the market is confirmed by the large-scale development projects completed in recent years, in particular the more than 350,000 sq.m. GLA of retail developments comprising more than 800 shops and service units and more than 40,000 sq.m. PUM of residential projects comprising more than 800 residential units in the largest agglomerations of Poland.
More www.acteeum.pl