“Mokotów Bermuda Triangle”
Mokotów is the fifth district of Warsaw in respect of occupying space, covering nearly 35,4 sq. m. On the other hand, in respect of population, it is situated on the first place. 207 000 people are living there, which constitutes ca. 13,5 per cent of all registered in Warsaw.
As statistics give, Mokotów is now a place which is less frequently chosen to live in. According to GUS data, it belongs, beside Śródmieście, Żoliborz and Ochota, to districts where the population growth deficit exceeds the surge of new inhabitants. Therefore, the population of Mokotów has decreased by more than 13 500 over the decade of 2002-2012.
The reasons for it are not only in high prices of apartments, but also in crises, which this district is being experienced, especially in the Służewiec part – the old industrial area, and now office industrial area.
This area, located in the south-west part of Mokotów is referred to as “Mokotów Bermuda Triangle” because of the opinion of one of the most dangerous places in the neighborhood. Mokotów reminded us about its dark side at the opportunity of media reports concerning the breakup of the Mokotów gang thanks to the police. During the day – mobile, corked, in a continuous rush, at night Służewiec withers and the only movement in this part of the city is generated by Galeria Mokotów, built in 2010 at the crossroads of Wołoska Street and Aleja Wilanowska.
Commercial accelerator of development
With the building of the shopping mall, there were hopes for a revitalization of this part of Mokotów, which accumulates most of the poor families, supervised by a judicial administrator, in comparison with other city areas. Mostly, they are members of proletarian families, who lost their jobs after the liquidation of functioning industrial plants and those who did not find the employment in new glass offices because of the lack of adequate qualifications. A more than ten years of functioning the shopping mall did not turn out to be a solution to lacks in a social infrastructure of the district and did not replace areas where the children, youth and adults living in Mokotów could spend their time and develop interests. In return, Galeria Mokotów proved to be an accelerator for the office market.
Regardless pejorative opinions about communicational paralyses in rush hours in Służewiec, neither developers nor another tenants do not resign from the location in Mokotów, and the shopping mall is a strong factor which has an influence on the decision of both sides. The proximity of service, commercial and gastronomic points, which are located in the shopping mall, has a crucial meaning for office employees, who can “jump out” to a fast lunch or shopping after a work day. The asset of the location is also a relatively close neighbourhood of Okęcie airport as well as the underground line which runs through the district and provides a fast communication with other parts of the city.
Currently, Służewiec has ca. 1,2 million sq. m of office space (25 per cent of support in the capital city), from which the largest proportion not only in the district, but also in whole Poland, belongs to the Empark Mokotów Business Park (115 820 sq. m). It is composed of 9 buildings located between Domaniewska, Postęp, Wołoska and Marynarska Streets, and their floorage is occupied by over 140 companies. The building of this complex initiated the development of the modern office space market of this district.
District of development and progress
Służewiec, neglected from a social perspective, is changing its face along with the increase of modern office space. Traditional industry is replaced by dominating BPO services and activity related to industry of new advanced technologies. Empark adjoins i.a. T-Mobile Office Park at Marynarska Street, commissioned last year by Ghelamco Poland. There is also a headquarters of Play network operator in Mokotów (Taśmowa Street), and in the building of Konstruktorska Street, Multimedialny Dom Plusa is being built, which is a future headquarters of Plus GSM mobile network. By virtue of locating the biggest national mobile operators there, it is said about occurrence of “cellular coalfield” in Mokotów or “telecommunication cluster”. As the only one which did not choose Służewiec on its location is the fourth main mobile operator in Poland – Orange. Its headquarters – Miasteczko Orange – is situated at Aleje Jerozolimskie.
Associations with new technologies are strengthened by names of institutions chosen by developers. Echo Investment built Park Postępu complex in Służewiec, and now, close to the future headquarters of Plus, also at Konstruktorska Street, is building Park Rozwoju. The first of two buildings of the complex has already received the use permit. Its first tenant is Schneider Electric Poland – a global company specialized in energy management and automatics, i.e. also related to new technologies. Currently, in the building around Służewiec there are at least five new investments. Except for mentioned Park Rozwoju there are i.a.: Pacific Office Building, building by Kronos Real Estate, Postęp 14 HB Reavis or Domaniewska Office Hub – new investment of Polski Holding Nieruchomości, which started on March this year. At least few modern office investments are in conceptual phases – at Wilanowska 372 Street, PHN is planning the building of two 6-tiers offices, and Apricot Capital Group announced a building of Mokotów One complex at Domaniewska Street. As seen above, Służewiec is in a continuous progress in the office sector sphere.