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Krakow’s
Central Development
So-called 'New Town' or 'New City' (Polish ‘Nowe Miasto’), a
250,000-sq-m-plus office-shopping-and-entertainment
complex on the 70,000-sq-m site in downtown
Krakow next to the Old Town historic district, remains the city’s biggest development project under
construction.
New
city that has a history
Krakow's
local government earmarked the
strategic area adjoining Krakow’s transportation
hub with main railroad and bus stations for its
brand-new commercial center. The successful
bidder, American developer Tishman Speyer
Properties, originally pledged at least 500 million US dollars in 1998. The municipality promised to top it with some $75
million worth of communal investment in the area
over the next four years. In mid-2003 Germany's ECE
Projektmanagement jumped the bandwagon and has gradually taken
over the construction of the main complex from Tishman.
In
the wake of September 11, 2001 Krakow's city council resolved
that the
New City district's
axial street, meant as future main downtown shopping avenue,
would be named 'Ulica Nowojorska' which translates into 'the
New York Street'.
New
space next to old Krakow
The
first part of the New City has been completed in September
2006. It's the 123,000-sq-meter Galeria Krakowska shopping
mall. The immense three-story shopping center boasts 270 shops
and department stores, 14 eateries, and 9
cafes that take up
the total floor space of 60,000 sq. meters. Plus a car park
for 1,400 vehicles.
The
Galeria Krakowska cost 250 million euro to build and it has
created about 2,000 new jobs. Together
with a four-star hotel,
opened in mid-2007, the
shopping mall forms the first of two phases of the New City
project.
Krakow's
New City project also involves a major overhaul of downtown
traffic northeast of the Old Town
district, complete with new
thruways, tunnels, a purpose-built tramway, and thorough
street modernization. Last but not least, it is connected with
the construction of a brand-new terminal for the Krakow Glowny
main train station and the city's central bus depot.
Looking
forward to Krakow's future
The
second stage of the New City project entails investments to
the tune of another 150 million euro. In the next three or
four years, fingers crossed, it will add two more hotels, office blocks
with the total of 25,000 sq. meters of top-quality floor space,
and apartment buildings with 30,000 sq. meters of tenantable
floor area.
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