Stifled out by war and communism, Polish luxury is back
A new class of wealthy Poles has appeared, including businessmen, estate agents and bankers
Agrey Ferrari comes to a halt in Warsaw and a young woman emerges. Wearing Chanel sunglasses and carrying a little dog, she enters the Raffles Europejski hotel, a symbol of the luxury that has returned to Poland.
Her destination is the historic pastry shop Lourse, which is located at the hotel, where guests pay between €250 and €4,000 (Dh1,065 and Dh17,260) a night and can count on perks like a personal butler.
The legendary Hotel Europejski, which was considered eastern Europe’s best in the 19th century, has just reopened after five years of renovation work spearheaded by the Raffles brand.
Poland’s first Hermes store could be housed at the site, a source said, though the French luxury goods giant would only confirm that it was looking into a project “in Warsaw in late 2019, early 2020”.
Luxury has become increasingly visible in Poland after a long absence due to the country’s devastating losses during World War II and the policy of egalitarianism later touted by the communist regime.
Decades on, a new class of wealthy Poles has appeared, whose members include heads of successful family businesses, real estate agents and high-flying bankers.
Many of the elite live in the 44-floor Cosmopolitan apartment tower in the heart of Warsaw. Opened in 2014, the building boasts a minimalist design by German-American architect Helmut Jahn, who also designed the European Union’s headquarters in Brussels.
Of the 100 most expensive real-estate sales in Warsaw between 2015 and 2017, 79 concerned flats in the Cosmopolitan building, said Karolina Kaim, president of Tacit Investment, the Polish firm that financed the building’s construction.
The apartments vary in price depending on the floor and view.
The most sought after units look out onto the Vistula River and the old part of town and cost nearly 10,000 euros per square metre — a figure that may not shock Parisians or Londoners but is staggering to the average Pole who earns around 1,100 euros a month. Most of the apartment owners are Polish.