Prices of luxury apartments in Poland are continually growing, making heads spin and keeping market analysts constantly busy. Until recently the record breaking prices have been confined to Warsaw. However, the current group of developments charging record prices has been joined by Sky Tower in Wrocław, a complex of five buildings containing a mix of residential and commercial space. The best apartment in the tallest towers will cost as much as PLN 40,000 (€11,680) per square metre. Wrocław, capital of the Lower Silesian Voivodeship, is Poland's fourth largest city with a population of over 635,000 (2006).

The main investor in the Sky Tower complex is LC Corp., a company owned by Leszek Czarnecki, one of five Poles included in Forbes Magazine's list of the world's richest people. The complex will be constructed in the very city centre, replacing an existing 25-storey 1970s apartment block. The tallest tower in the development will stand at 258 metres including a 40 metre spire. It may hold the title of highest building in Poland when it is complete, although that will be brief as other developments currently on the drawing board are higher. The construction permit for Sky Tower was obtained in August 2006 and the foundation stone of the Wrocław complex was laid at the beginning of April 2008.

Turnkey Residential

The residential part of the development will occupy over 66,000 m². It will contain nearly 850 apartments, with more than half located in the tower. Each of the most luxurious and most expensive apartments (there will be 22 of them) will offer a floor area of 234 m², while the smallest apartments will have 41 m². Apartments in Sky Tower will cost from PLN 14,500 to 40,000/m² (€4,234 to €11,680/m²) depending on size, standard of finish and where it is located in the development. The developer is assuring potential buyers that all apartments will be delivered ready for occupation, also known as turnkey. The kitchens will be equipped with white goods and fitted cupboards and the bathrooms will be completely finished. Each apartment will be furnished and have its own management system to control air conditioning, heating and access.

Each of the buildings will be guarded by separate 24-hour reception desks. The complex will provide 2,000 parking spaces on four storeys as well as leisure facilities. An area of 10,000 m² has been set aside for a tennis court, 25-metre swimming pool, climbing walls, multipurpose sports playground, squash room, and an indoor golf centre with golf simulators. Residents and tenants will also have access to a medical centre, playschool, winter garden, green terraces and club with an observation terrace on the top storey.

The 20,000 m² shopping centre will contain more than 120 shops as well as service and gastronomic outlets. Sky Tower will also offer some 36,000 m² of modern office space with rents estimated at PLN 58.00 to 75.50/m² (€17 to 22/m²). Usable area of the development will be close to 200,000 m², and its total area is around 270,000 m². Total cost of the investment is estimated at PLN 1.5 billion (€438 million).

Profile of Time

The symbol of the complex will be Salvador Dali's sculpture, the Profile of Time, which will be placed in front of the main entrance to Sky Tower. The surrealistic sculpture, purchased in Spain, presents a motif well known in Dali's works - a clock dial hanging over a tree branch and with the hands pointing to six o'clock. The value of the four-metre sculpture, which will arrive in Lower Silesia's capital city in a few months, is estimated at PLN 2.9 million (€840,000).

Demolition of the 25-storey tower ended in December 2007 and foundation works began in April 2008. The skyscraper will be founded on 137 stilts and the building is expected to reach level zero in the third quarter of 2008. The whole complex is scheduled for completion in the first half of 2011.

This is not the end of the sky-high ambitions of LC Corp. An official announcement concerning a project involving another skyscraper, this time in Katowice, is scheduled to take place in May 2008.