Carrefour Polska, a supermarket, has agreed to lease about50,000 sf in the center. Mediaexpert, an electronics goods store,is taking about 27,000 sf. Jeweler Apart, Vision Express, women'sfashion store Taranko and the Arab restaurant Marhaba are leasingabout 5,500 sf. Michal Masztakowski, associate director at CBRichard Ellis, negotiated the lease terms on behalf of thedeveloper.

Richard Keen, managing director at the self-named developer,tells GlobeSt.com that there will be 180 stores when the $111million retail property is opened in spring 2010. "We are inadvanced negotiations with several other companies, and willannounce the opening of more highly-desired Polish andinternational retail brands in Galeria Victoria soon," he says.

The project will help redevelop a neglected part of the city,Keen says. The city, using a Special Economic Zone, has alsobrought in companies such as Toyota Motor Corp., Whirlpool andGeneral Electric. "As a result, unemployment, although stillslightly higher than the national average, continues to fall asinvestment in the city increases, and the disposable income of thelocal community is steadily increasing accordingly," he says.