Management of post-industrial real estates converted for residential and commercial use on the example of lofts

Abstract

The present article deals with the issue of converting post-industrial real estates for the residential and commercial purposes on the example of lofts. It defines the basic terms, describes the analyzed spaces, shows the offers available on the Polish market and presents the first conclusions drawn from the research which is to be continued in the future.

In the introduction there are presented the most popular definitions used in the real estat developers’ offers. The definition of a loft relates to the features typical of this kind of real estate: a huge open post-industrial space (frequently unpartitioned), converted only to meet the necessary technical requirements and preserving the most important elements of industrial buildings, such as, concrete floors, exposed brick walls, raw industrial atmosphere. Therefore lofts are old post-industrial spaces adapted to match the modern standards of living and comfort. This type of post-industrial property is called ‘a hard loft’ in contrast to ‘a soft loft’ which is a loft-style residential building built entirely anew and only re-creating industrial

‘hard’ lofts’ style and atmosphere. In the following parts of the article there is presented the information about the most typical projects converting post-industrial properties into modern types of real estates adapted to be used as comfortable living and working spaces (presented on the basis of the analysis of the offers of the primary market of the following Polish cities with rich industrial past: Łódź, Warszawa, Poznań, Kraków, Tricity). The analysed examples concern both ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ lofts (as specified above). According to real estate developers who offer this type of real estates, a certain kind of people look for such accommodation - those who want to stand out from the crowd and are characterised by individualism, independence, courage and sometimes also snobbism. Among the initial conclusions from debating the issue there have been specified the determinants of the development of this sector of the real estate market in Poland and the matter of managing this type of real estates has been discussed, emphasising the necessity of further research to draw the final conclusions.