• The building of the largest shopping centre in the Tricity reached its final size

The building of the Galeria Bałtycka – the largest shopping centre in the Tricity – reached its final size: more than 17 m of height and 103,000 sq.m. of usable area. The three floors of the shopping centre will have almost 200 retail stores, restaurants and service outlets offering the widest range of shopping in the
Tricity. The Galeria Bałtycka enjoys a tremendous interest of retailers: practically all the retail outlets in it have already been leased. The Galeria's offering will include the best known and most valued brands, with almost 30 new ones that have so far been absent in the Tricity. The opening of the new shopping centre is scheduled to take place in autumn 2007. The ECE's partner in the project is Deutsche EuroShop AG, and the project value is ca. 140 million euros.

 

 

"Our project is a significant contribution to the economic development of the Tricity. Owing to it, the part of the city that surrounds the Galeria Bałtycka will gain glamour and a modern character. I'm sure that the Galeria Bałtycka will well serve its customers and will foster the local trade boom," said Jan Dębski, President of ECE Projektmanagement Polska Sp. z o.o. during the topping out ceremony.

 

Express construction speed

The Galeria Bałtycka is built with a fast speed – there's been only 18 months from the moment of driving the first spade into the ground to the opening of the centre in autumn this year. The building grew day by day to reach its actual dimensions. The general contractor for the Galeria Bałtycka project is Hochtief Polska Sp. z o.o., Oddział Budokor.

 

About 7 tonnes of steel and 45 cubic meters of concrete have been used for the construction of Galeria Bałtycka. The façade materials will amount to 5,000 sq m of lime stone and 3,000 sq m of glass.

 

Parallel to the construction of the shopping centre, there proceeds modification of the road intersection of the Aleja Grunwaldzka, the Kościuszki, the Słowackiego and the Dmowskiego trunk roads, including the infrastructure, and the construction of convenient access roads to the Galeria Bałtycka. The general contractor for those road works is MTM S.A.

 

Largest selection of fashionable brands

The Galeria Bałtycka will offer an unparalleled selection of products and services to the Gdańsk residents and all its visitors. With 39,500 sq m of shop area it will be the largest shopping center in Tricity.

 

The concept of leasing stores and outlets was specially customised to fulfil local market needs. Proper choice of stores will enable shopping to one's individual taste and financial potential. There will be nearly 30 brands opening their shops for the first time in Gdańsk. They will include, among others, consumer electronics retail chain Saturn, and, moreover, such fashion brands, as Peek&Cloppenburg, Boss, Mango, Tommy Hilfiger, Trussardi, Penny Black, Olsen, Apriori, Biba, Vertus, Pepe Jeans, or Timberland. The novelties will include Svarowski's crystal shop, and interior finish and decoration accessories stores of Duka, Almi Decor, Home&You. An unquestionable family attraction will be an original Italian ice-cream parlour, manufacturing its products on the spot.

 

Shops run by businesses from the region will give a local character to the shopping centre, including, among others, Festus, Nowak Meat Deli, Szydłowski's Bakery, the Pasibrzuch restaurant, or the Folwark Zwierzęcy pet shop. Special significance will be attributed to the retail store of the largest Polish clothing company LPP, which has its seat in Gdańsk. LPP intends to open its the so-called "flagship store" under the Reserved brand, as well as four stores of its other brands: ReKids, Cropp Town, Esotiq lingerie store and the already-mentioned Home&Sou.

 

Modern architecture

The modern architecture of the Galeria Bałtycka will give a new character to its surroundings. A clock tower will be rising above the surroundings, thus providing a natural, dominant element of the building. The elevations will be finished with high-quality materials: sandstones and profiled glass. Natural stones and glass panes will add lightness and transparency to the structure, and will also relate it to the sea and beach – the two leading themes, which have inspired the Galeria Bałtycka architects. Those motifs were also reflected in the interior decorations and colours applied inside the facility.

 

Friendly and serene interiors of the Galeria Bałtycka will be perfectly illuminated by natural light due to large skylights. The central mall will have a transparent glass dome over it, in the shape of an ellipse with an impressive length of 56 m.

 

Project partners

There are two partners involved in the Galeria Bałtycka project: ECE Projektmanagement and Deutsche EuroShop AG. Total project value is ca. 140 million euro.

 

Deutsche EuroShop is Germany’s only joint-stock company that invests solely in shopping centres at prime locations. Presently, the company has shares in 16 European shopping centres in Germany, Austria, Poland and Hungary. The market value of those shopping centres amounts to 2.6 billion euros.

 

ECE Projektmanagement has been managing, as well as planning, constructing, developing and leasing large-scale retail and service centres at inner city locations for over 40 years. ECE manages 90 shopping centres in Germany, Poland, Turkey, Hungary, the Czech Republic, and Qatar. Total sales floor area of those facilities is 2.7 million m². They have 9,200 tenants and generate annual turnover of more than 10 billion euro, thus making ECE the European market leader in this field. In Poland, ECE runs the Galeria Dominikańska in Wrocław, the Galeria Łódzka in Łódź, the Galeria Krakowska in Kraków and the Alfa Centrum shopping centre in Gdańsk, while the Galeria Bałtycka in Gdańsk is under construction. Another 22 centres in Europe are currently at planning or construction stages.