The land real estate market in Poland increasingly offers fewer simple answers, while many market participants still describe location in terms of an address or district. From an investment perspective, however, location primarily means the relationship of the property to the city: access to public transport, proximity to residential development, social and service infrastructure, and alignment with urban development directions.

This is precisely why many shopping malls built in the 1990s and early 2000s operate today in a completely different market context than at the time of their construction. The city has “caught up” with these facilities, and their surroundings increasingly meet the needs of residents rather than serving narrowly understood retail functions. In such cases, the question is no longer whether a given property has potential, but what role it can play in the next stage of its life cycle.

For this reason, more and more land once developed with retail facilities is successfully finding its second life. We observe this phenomenon “from the front row,” being directly involved in spectacular conversion processes carried out in Kraków.

There are several reasons for this change. One of the key ones is the growing popularity of the 15-minute city concept and mixed-use projects, which respond to the needs of city authorities, investors, and ultimately residents and broadly understood economic activity.

An important factor is also the development of asset classes in Poland — such as private rented sector housing (PRS), purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA), and senior housing — along with the inflow of capital that accompanies them. This enables the effective use of the commercial designation that properties of this type typically have.

Equally important are the new planning tools that the current spatial planning reform equips investors with — in particular, General Plans and Integrated Investment Plans (ZPI). This is an exceptional, and in the Polish context even unprecedented, opportunity for the responsible redefinition of the urban fabric, implemented with the participation of all stakeholders in the investment process.

Such a process always begins with a well-prepared project and a reliable investor — elements whose effective combination is NAVIMO’s specialty.

If you’re interested in investing in assets of this type, we’re at your disposal.