Marywilska 44. Interview with Małgorzata Konarska

– I didn't expect that there would be such a drama, such a tragedy – says Małgorzata Konarska, president of the company that manages Marywilska 44, at the beginning of the conversation with the business editorial team of tvn24.pl.

He recalls that “on May 12 this year, the fire spread at such a speed that even the services had never seen anything like it before.”

She received a call that Marywilska 44 was on fire after 3.00 in the morning. – First, shock, disbelief, dressing quickly, with the phone to my ear, I drove to the place. I heard from the technical director that he saw no chance of saving the facility, that the fire was spreading at a cosmic pace, she says.

– We maintain our position on the reconstruction of the shopping center at Marywilska Street. We are at the final stage of the concept – assures Konarska.

However, it explains that they cannot apply for a building permit before a “minimalist” spatial development plan for this area is adopted.

– After the last change in regulations, all commercial and large-scale facilities above 2,000 m2. square meters, in order to be built, they must undergo a complicated and time-consuming procedure, including: the investment area must be covered by a spatial development plan. The act does not provide for such a concept as reconstruction, the procedure is complete, as for new investments – Małgorzata Konarska describes the legal situation.

He emphasizes that the Warsaw Council has already efficiently adopted a resolution to start drawing up a minimalist plan. – I estimate that it will be adopted in the first quarter of next year. When the resolution becomes final, we will immediately submit an application for a building permit. I think that in the second half of next year we will be able to dig in the shovel and start working. We are able to complete this investment within nine months from the date of obtaining the building permit – he assumes.

In an interview with our editorial office, the president of the company managing Marywilska 44 says that the prosecutor's office is still investigating and the services are working on the fire site. – According to unofficial information that I have received, the area is to be handed over to the company by the end of the year at the latest – he says.

What caused the fire? – we ask. – Various theories appear in the public space, but let's wait for the official position of the services conducting the proceedings. I don't want to speculate. The most important thing is that after the shopping center burned down, the company's owner quickly decided that we had to help the merchants. At the end of August, we organized a temporary container town for them, which cost us PLN 30 million. The “town” proposal was accepted by a large group of merchants, he emphasizes.

He also adds that for the first three months, tenants pay rent of PLN 1 per square meter. Additionally, PLN 450 net operating fee, i.e. they participate in the costs of cleaning, security and waste disposal. He emphasizes that these amounts do not cover all costs, but the company has decided that it will help merchants and that in this way it will implement its original plan.

There is a rumor among merchants that apartment blocks are to be built at 44 Marywilska Street. Is it true? – The justification for the resolution of the Warsaw Council states that the area is divided into two zones. The first one in which residential buildings are allowed, because there are residential buildings around Marywilska Street. The second one concerns the area that will be subject to the adoption of a spatial development plan – where the construction of a shopping center is planned – will only have a commercial and service function. This should put an end to all speculations, notes Konarska.

He recalls that Marywilska's success was that “everything is here, from a screw to an elegant fur coat.”

– About 50,000 people visited us on weekends. Before the fire, there were 1,400 shops, and now there are 800 containers with 406 commercial and service premises. And we still have the best food court in Warsaw. All containers are rented, we have created a reserve list of interested people for whom there is no space – he says.

We ask whether buyers are satisfied with the containers? – We have as many as 70 people on the reserve list for containers. There will certainly be some among the over 400 merchants who will have reservations, but the reserve list I mentioned earlier is the best proof that our town is a good place to run a business – replies the head of Marywilska 44.

– We are trying to do everything to give people a job after the fire. We are accused of not having a bus or a special line reaching us. Before the fire, we had our special bus line, KUPIECBUS, but it cost us about PLN 2 million a year. We don't have that kind of money now. We are accused of mixing aisles with Polish, Vietnamese and Turkish merchants. Marywilska 44 has always been multicultural, which was perceived as our advantage by both customers and merchants themselves. Our original proposal was to create thematic and national avenues, but it was not accepted by the majority – he says.

Experience after several months of operation of the temporary town of Marywilska 44 shows that “it would be easier for the customer to move around if he knew that in one part he had nice Vietnamese pavilions and in another, larger exclusive pavilions.” – There are cheaper products here and more expensive ones there. In other aisles there would be only wholesale sales. There are voices that we invest too little in advertising. That's right, there needs to be more advertising. We have received several good offers from the media and we are taking advantage of them, he points out.

In the conversation, he adds that there is also a demand from the tenants to create an ice rink and a Christmas fair so that customers can shop in a nice atmosphere. – You have to turn on the radio to play Christmas music. We are looking for companies and partners who would like to organize winter events with us. We invite you to cooperate. However, I am most looking forward to spring, it will be wonderful because outdoor markets have their fans. The sun is warm, we do some shopping, and then we go out to eat something with the family. I don't want to be lofty, but you can look at European open-air markets. This is very fashionable now, he notes.

In previous conversations with buyers, the business editorial team of tvn24.pl heard that the containers were created because the company did not want to pay reservation fees for stands that were burned. We ask Małgorzata Konarska if this is true.

– The reservation fee enabled the tenant to extend the lease agreement for further 5-year periods, with a guarantee of rent and the location of his commercial premises. The rent changed only within the scope of the provisions regarding indexation. Tenants benefited from periodic discounts ranging from 10 percent, and during the pandemic they reached up to 90 percent. If anyone has any doubts about the reservation fees, there are courts in Poland that can decide whether this fee is refundable. According to the company, in accordance with the provisions of the lease agreement, it is non-refundable – Konarska replies.

He specifies that its amount depended on the location of the commercial premises. The fee for seats on the main passage was PLN 61,000. PLN gross. Premises in weaker locations cost from PLN 30,500. PLN gross, while those in dead ends – PLN 6.1 thousand. PLN gross. – The temporary container town was not created to avoid paying reservation fees, they were never refundable. Moreover, as a result of the fire, all contracts with tenants expired by operation of law. However, merchants who want to return to the rebuilt shopping center will not incur reservation fees, it says.

In conversations with merchants from the “burnt Marywilska” street, the issue also arises that some entrepreneurs did not receive a container at the temporary market. It was these sellers who started trying to create a competitive place in the complex Modlińska 6D, which opened on October 26 this year.

– The company did not rent containers to people who, in its opinion, acted to the detriment of the center and tenants. The reason was not alone fact of participating in the January strike(against the increase in rents – ed). and even its inspiration, and behavior that was very often illegal, threatening the safety of tenants not participating in the strike and customers present in the entire shopping complex at that time – Konarska replies.

In her opinion, “the activities there were carried out in order to prepare a new business.” – The first visualizations of the new place for tenants taken over from our facility were presented online before the fire, at the turn of January and February – he notes.

He adds: – Of course, as a company we have made mistakes and we can admit to them. We always talk and strive for dialogue, and we have withdrawn from some ideas, such as full indexation of rents in 2024.

– There have been situations over the last 12 years that I have been the president when tenants took legal action against us. In all but one case, the court agreed with us. We only lost once for the refund of the deposit of PLN 6,000 – explains the head of the company managing the Marywilska 44 facility.

Read also: Thermoses and blankets at Marywilska Street. This is what it looked like overnight in the queue for containers

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