Torus sums up a historical year

At the beginning of March 2019, the Philippines-based investor ISOC Group signed the final agreement for the purchase of the Argon building, the third stage of the Alchemia office centre. The approx. 92m EUR net transaction was the highest ever for Torus and the Tricity office market.  Our company has so far completed six sales transactions of its office properties to five different funds (five Arkońska Business Park buildings and three stages of the Alchemia complex) for a total of nearly 280m EUR. This makes Torus responsible for the majority (approximately 65%) of the total office transaction volume realised by Tricity developers. Of particular interest is the speedy lease rate of Neon, the 35,000 sq. m final stage of Alchemia. The building’s occupancy rate is currently at 90%, only three months after opening, which makes it Torus’ ready investment product for sale to an investment fund. Neon’s tenants include Odyssey Logistics & Technology Corporation (Odyssey), Gdańskie Wydawnictwo Oświatowe, Hapag-Lloyd, Credit Agricole, KIDS&Co, Thai Wok and Body&Mind Clinic. Over the course of 2019, Torus leased out nearly 35,000 sq. m of office and retail space. There have also been some new tenants in the Argon building, including Grupa Polcom, Thomson Reuters and JUUL Labs, while many existing tenants chose to expand their office space in the same year.

Completion and utilisation readiness of the Neon building signified the end of construction of the entire Alchemia complex, which had begun in 2011 and lasted nearly a decade. The investment project, conceptualised in the 2000’s and built on the site of a former chemical plant, has decisively changed the urban character of the Gdańsk suburb of Oliwa and contributed to its development. Alchemia features over 122,000 sq. m of leasable space, with 112,000 sq. m of office space – 1/6th of the entire office space market in Tricity! – and 10,000 sq. m of retail space. Every building in Alchemia is certified under the U.S. rating system for highly efficient buildings, Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, at the highest rating - Platinum, with one of the highest scores in Poland. What distinguishes Alchemia from other office centres are its integrated sports and recreation facilities (with swimming pools, saunas, gym, sports hall and indoor climbing) and eat-in/takeaway options (several restaurants, cafes and bars).

In 2019, Torus has also delivered the first stage of the Officyna building in the Gdańsk suburb of Wrzeszcz, which features 5,000 sq. m of leasable space, including 4,200 sq. m of office space. This marked the first occurrence of Torus delivering two buildings in one year and beginning two new ones – Officyna II (approx. 7,300 sq. m, completion planned for the beginning of 2021) and Format near Gdańsk Oliwa train station (over 15,700 sq. m, completion planned for Q2 2021).

But that’s not all. In the near future, Torus is planning to commence further investment projects in various attractive locations in Tricity, on a grand scale

In August last year, Torus became the strategic and main sponsor of the Wybrzeże Gdańsk men’s handball team. This marks a new stage in our three-year working relationship with the club, mutually agreed upon by both sides following the satisfying results of the previous arrangement.  Marek Paliświat, Torus Vice-president of the Board, signing the strategic work agreement with the Wybrzeże Gdańsk men’s handball team

In accordance with the Torus development strategy, in addition to carrying out our core business – delivering quality office space to the market – we engage in several initiatives for people and the local community. Working with Wybrzeże Gdańsk is not our only involvement in sport - additionally, we have been supporting amateur and professional triathletes, young fencers (school sports club Atena) and women’s beach volleyball teams (Torus AZS UW BV Team).

Sports and recreation are very dear to Torus – the first stage of Alchemia features the largest sports and recreation centre in Gdańsk that is fully open to the public. It is there we hold Torus Triathlon In Da House, our triathlon competition for the business community held entirely indoors, during the winter. During last year’s fifth edition (on 1 March 2019) we hosted nearly 40 company-sponsored, five-employee relay teams and 22 athletes competing individually – really tough women and men. Each year the event also raises money for charity – last year we had raised nearly 60,000 PLN for the Polish Multiple Sclerosis Society.

Another success in 2019 was ‘Do Nasadzenia’, our tree-planting campaign. On two Saturdays in October, we brought nearly 1,500 people – employees of various Tricity companies and institutions – to replant 11 hectares of the Kashubian forest that had been brutally destroyed by the extreme storms in 2017. We planted some 110,000 saplings of birch, larch, pine and other species – over twice the projected amount. Our call to action was met with tremendous acceptance and engagement within the business community and by individual people alike. The participants included many of our friends and friends of our tenants, as well as families with small children. There were plenty of games and educational activities allowing many to learn more about the forest and how it affects our lives. We have even published a children’s book, together with the Adamada publishing house, designed to teach kids about the importance of our local forests. The event was organised with our partners, the National Forestry, with logistical support from Lufthansa Systems Poland and additional support by LPP.

Adding to the successful year were two prestigious awards we received on 6 November at the 2019 CIJ Awards gala at the Raffles Europejski hotel in Warsaw. The 18th edition of the contest saw two first prizes go to Torus, in two categories: Best National Office Development (for Alchemia in Gdańsk) and Best CSR Campaign (for our ‘Do Nasadzenia’ tree-planting campaign).