Europa Centralna is the largest retail scheme in Gliwice, encompassing a retail park with a GLA of 39,700 sq m and a galleria of 27,300 sq m, with parking for over 2,000 cars. The city of Gliwice is strategically located at the intersection of the A1 and A4 motorways in the Upper Silesia region of southern Poland, one of the strongest economic regions in the country and a center for business and industry.
In line with its value-add investment strategy, Mitiska REIM plans to reposition Europa Centralna as
a food-anchored convenience real estate asset and improve its ESG credentials so that it can achieve a “Very Good” score on the BREEAM scale.
The retail park and galleria are currently anchored by DIY stores Castorama and Jula, with other tenants including JYSK, Action, Media Expert and Sports Direct, and a standalone drive-through McDonald’s restaurant. The center also has an 8,000 sq m GLA convenience leisure offer with tenants such as Funzeum and House of Air. An 11,000 sq m space has been available since the conclusion of Tesco’s operations in Poland in 2019, providing a variety of opportunities for new businesses to occupy the space and contribute to the overall success of the site.
Mateusz Szymczak, Mitiska REIM’s Investment Manager for Poland, comments: “There are two million people living within a 30-minute drive of Europa Centralna, with the Upper Silesia region one of Poland’s largest concentrations of industrial space and one of the country’s main centers for business services. This makes Europa Centralna a perfect location not only for convenience retail but also a hub for DIY goods and homeware in addition to leisure facilities.”
Sylvie Geuten-Carpentier, Managing Partner of Mitiska REIM, adds: “The acquisition of Europa Centralna is a major addition to our portfolio in Poland, where Mitiska REIM has been accelerating its expansion over the last 4 years, building a well-diversified portfolio of 16 convenience real estate investments with a total gross leasable area of more than 170,000 sq m. The acquisition of Europa Centralna is once again an illustration of our ability to identify investments where we see a significant opportunity to create a modern, futureproof and attractive convenience real estate scheme, leveraging Mitiska REIM’s active asset management capabilities and expertise.”
In December last year, Mitiska REIM conducted the second close at 158 million Euro of its third flagship fund, Mitiska European Real Estate Partners 3 (MEREP 3), which aims to capitalize on the accelerating opportunity in convenience real estate across Europe, targeting grocery-anchored retail parks, last-mile urban logistics and multi-let light industrial opportunities in urban infill locations. MEREP 3 aims to substantially increase the fundraising and plans further closings in the next 12 months.
