Prologis Adds Distribution Center to Wroclaw V Park

By Gail Kalinoski, Contributing Editor

Prologis, the global provider and operator of industrial real estate, is expanding its presence in Poland, where it will construct a 376,000-square-foot, build-to-suit distribution center for a leading Polish retailer.

The distribution center will be the fourth build-to-suit facility the company will have constructed in its Prologis Park Wroclaw V. Located on 173 acres, the park will total more than 3.1 million square feet when it is built out. Prologis plans to submit it for BREEAM, or BRE Environmental Assessment Method, the world’s designation for building sustainability standards.

“As the fourth build-to-suit in less than two years, this transaction further highlights the strategic importance of Prologis Park Wroclaw V as a key logistics location,” Ben Bannatyne, managing director of Prologis Central & Eastern Europe, said in a news release. “Supply-chain consolidation and a rapidly growing consumer class continue to drive demand for logistics infrastructure in Central Europe.”

A Prologis spokesperson declined to release the name of the retailer.

In April, Prologis announced that it had signed an agreement to build a facility of about 196,980 square feet for Tradis, part of the Eurocash Group, at Wroclaw V, according to a Prologis release. It was the third build-to-suit for the industrial park.

“As the third BTS in less than two years, the transaction further highlights the strategic importance of Prologis Park Wroclaw V as a key logistics location, while sending a positive signal to the wider Polish market,” Eva Zawadzka, business development director for Poland, said in the April 16 release.

The other BTS facilities were constructed for a provider of self-adhesive label materials and a wholesaler and retail supplier of white goods and electronic equipment, the release noted.

Prologis is the largest owner and operator of industrial real estate in Poland, with a portfolio of more than 20.5 million square feet. It owns four distribution parks in the Wroclaw region. The company had owned Prologis Park Wroclaw II until it was sold in the first quarter of 2012 to the Hines Global REIT as part of a four-property, $131 million industrial portfolio.

Wroclaw, the fourth-largest city in Poland, has been expanding its industrial sector because of its population and proximity to main transportation routes. Despite economic challenges in Europe, demand for modern logistics and industrial space in Central and Eastern Europe remains strong, according to reports by both Colliers International and Jones Lang LaSalle Inc. Build-to-suit arrangements like the one announced for Prologis Park Wroclaw V will continue to be popular, particularly in areas near main highways, Colliers noted in its 2013 “Research & Forecast Report” on Poland’s industrial market. Colliers reported that the largest amount of new warehouse space was built in Wroclaw in 2012. The region saw approximately 624,310 square feet of industrial built in 2012 and should see about 721,180 square feet this year, according to Colliers.