Two new tenants have moved to the Altus office buildings and one company has renewed its leasing contract. In total, the new leases for 1 700 sq. meters have been signed. Additionally, the building’s owner announces to commence refurbishment works this year.
BDO and itWORKS have leased more than 1 000 sq. meters of office space in the Altus office building in Katowice while GDF Suez Energia Polska has renewed its lease. The landlord was represented in these transactions by Cushman & Wakefield, a leading global real estate services firm.
International advisory firm BDO, which specializes in corporate accounting, tax and financial services, moved into Altus on 22nd of June 2015. With more than 1 300 offices in 153 countries worldwide, BDO is the fifth largest consultancy company in the world. BDO has taken up more than 610 sq. meters of office space.
Andre Helin, CEO of BDO, said: “Katowice is our new office location in southern Poland. In addition to our new Kraków office, it is part of our growth strategy. Southern Poland is very important for BDO as it is a fast-growing region. Businesses need specialists where they operate and by opening an office in Katowice we aim to satisfy their expectations.”
itWORKS S.A. has provided IT and business services for 14 years. It currently has more than 220 specialists, cooperates with over 300 clients and serves more than 40 000 Polish and international users. In addition to its head office in Kraków, it has local offices in Warsaw, Łódź and Katowice. itWORKS moved to its 410-plus sq. meters office in Altus on 15th of June.
“We decided to move to Altus in response to the fast growth of our cooperation with clients who are increasingly reliant on the services of our Help Desk and Shared Service Center related to Data Center & Cloud, all located in Silesia. The new office is an excellent location and offers comfortable working conditions for our growing team of professionals” – said Bartosz Ćwikliński, CFO at itWORKS S.A.
GDF Suez Energia Polska, the fifth largest energy producer in Poland providing 5% of energy output in the country, has extended its lease in Altus. It is also a leading producer of energy from biomass in Poland. GDF Suez Energia Polska has leased nearly 700 sq. meters of office space in Altus since 2006 for its Marketing and Sales Office and part of its Local Energy Management section.
With 30 floors and 125 meters in height, Altus is the tallest skyscraper in Silesia and the fourth tallest building in Poland outside Warsaw. Weather permitting, it can be seen from a distance of 100 km. Altus offers 63 300 sq. meters, including more than 15 000 sq. meters of class A office space. The complex comprises three interconnected cuboids sharing a large atrium.
The four-level shopping mall and the high tower comprising more than 30 000 sq. meters are home to the four-star Qubus Hotel, a conference center, a cinema (Planet Cinema) a casino (Casinos Poland), a fitness club, two business restaurants, two cafés, a wine store, more than a dozen service outlets, an underground car park with 564 parking spaces and a car wash. The rooftop Sky Bar offers a superb view of Katowice.
“Altus is a great place for companies and institutions for which the head office is an integral part of their image. It is a showpiece of Katowice.” – commented Maciej Jaglarz, the owner of Altus.
Altus is scheduled for refurbishment this year. This will include a new reception desk, new revolving doors and speed gates to offices. Four main lifts will also be replaced. Refurbishment will also comprise the underground car park, the air-conditioning system and entrance doors to the buildings. The stairs from Uniwersytecka St. will be renovated.
Altus is located in the very heart of Katowice, at the junction of Uniwersytecka and Piastowska streets, in close proximity to the sports and entertainment hall “Spodek”. Altus has been owned by Izera since 2013.
Krzysztof Misiak, Partner, Regional Cities Manager in the Office Department of Cushman & Wakefield, said: “Altus offers top quality office space. Its excellent downtown location with good transportation links was one of the key drivers in the choice of this building by new tenants. We are pleased that more companies have decided to lease space in Altus. For GDF Suez it will soon be ten years since it moved to Altus, which is evidence of attractiveness of this place.”