Appointed as the Development Director tasked with amongst other things the establishment of a new office for Rockcastle Poland Sp z.o.o, (A wholly owned subsidary of the retail focused listed Property REIT Rockcastle Global Real Estate, based in Warsaw Poland), which was established to spearhead and execute the companies growth ambitions and strategy into Central and Eastern Europe.
As a member of the core Rockcastle Poland Sp.z.o.o team, my key achievement (and one of my career highlights) came in the assembly and redevelopment of a formidable Retail Portfolio of over 16 shopping centres across multiple countries in Central Eastern Europe in only a 4-year period.
Primary Responsibilities:
Reporting into the London-based CEO and as a member of the Executive Committee, my initial responsibility was that of establishing the new CEE Office based in Warsaw, Poland, including negotiating new office leases, design and fit-out of the new offices, establishing a new team of staff incl. project managers, asset managers and financial staff to support and manage the day to day operations of the CEE head office and portfolio of CEE retail centres.
Aside from setting up and establishing the new CEE office in Warsaw, the core mandate of the Development Director was to extract value and ensure the ongoing growth and value proposition of all the assets being bought into the portfolio. This was achieved through various means including but not limited to the complete redevelopment of assets, expansion of assets to increase GLA and associated income, as well as re-looking the tenant mix with the asset managers in order to optimize tenant size and mix in each retail centre. The ongoing technical maintenance and management as well as the installation and relocation of key tenants within each asset, also fell within the scope of the Development Director role.
Director Roles & Responsibilities:
- Prepared OPEX and CAPEX budgets in preparation for and understanding of, the offers to be made on any potential acquisitions;
- Prepared, presented and reported on feasibilities for new developments;
- Prepared and reported on the ongoing project based P&L for all developments;
- Prepared, presented and reported on the ongoing yields/returns on all the developments and for the portfolio as a whole;
- Prepared, presented and reported on the progress and project status including time, cost and quality for individual developments as well as the portfolio as a whole;
- Ensured the development teams for each region were sufficiently staffed and qualified;
- Recruitment of local development managers.
Project Related Roles and Responsibilities:
With a development team of around 8 people, the Development Director fulfilled an oversight role with regards all real estate projects in the portfolio, which included amongst other things the following...
- Technical due diligence on all buildings prior to acquisition;
- Appointed and led the various design and engineering teams for the redevelopment of the assets.;
- Appointed and led the planning and permitting teams and processes;
- Managed an in house team of 5 Development Managers based in the various regions;
- Negotiated, reviewed and signed all Professional Services Agreements i.e. architects, cost consultants, etc;
- Negotiated, reviewed and signed all the General/Main Contractor Construction agreements;
- Attended high-level meetings with various political figures, and negotiated the necessary planning and permitting rights for the development redevelopment rights.
Below is a list of all the transactions which were concluded during my tenure as the Development Director for the Rockcastle Poland Sp. z.o.o Real Estate team. (Transaction Values; both Aquisition & Redevelopment, have been omitted for NDA and confidentiality reasons, but are available on request and with prior consent)
Polish Acquisitions:
Alfa Centrum Bialystok,
36 900m2 Retail Asset Acquisition & Redevelopment
Professional Team Appointed
Redevelopment Design, Planning & Permitting completed.
Construction placed on hold due to a reprioritization of assets earmarked for redevelopment and Capital Constraints post-merger.
Aura Centrum, Olsztyn,
28 000m2 Retail Asset Acquisition & Redevelopment
Professional Team Appointed
Redevelopment Design, Planning & Permitting completed.
Construction placed on hold due to a reprioritization of assets earmarked for redevelopment and Capital Constraints post-merger.
Bonarka City Centre, Krakow,
92 700m2 Retail Asset Acquisition & Redevelopment
Professional Team Appointed.
Design, Planning & Permitting completed.
Construction Started, and currently still underway.
Focus Mall, Zielona Gora,
27 279m2 Retail Asset Acquisition & Redevelopment
Professional Team Appointed.
Design, Planning & Permitting completed.
Construction Started, and currently still underway.
Galeria Tomaszow, Tomaszow Mazowiecki,
New 18 400m2 Retail Asset
Professional Team Appointed
Design, Planning & Permitting completed.
Construction Completed
Opened in 2019.
Galeria Warminska, Olsztyn,
41 497m2 Retail Asset Acquisition & Redevelopment
Professional Team Appointed
Redevelopment Design Completed.
Garleria Wolomin, Wolomin,
New 30 700m2 Retail Project
Professional Team Appointed
Design, Planning & Permitting completed.
Construction Completed
Opened 2019
Karolinka Shopping Centre, Opole,
70 700m2 Retail Asset Acquisition & Redevelopment
Professional Team Appointed
Design, Planning & Permitting completed.
Platan Shopping Centre, Zabzre,
39 900m2 Retail Asset Acquisition & Redevelopment
Design, Planning & Permitting completed.
Construction Completed
Opened 2018
Pogoria Shopping Centre, Dabrowa Gornicza,
37 700m2 Retail Asset Acquisition & Redevelopment
Professional Team Appointed
Design, Planning & Permitting completed.
Construction placed on hold due to reprioritization of assets for redevelopment and Capital Constraints post-merger.
Solaris Shopping Centre, Opole,
26 000m2 Retail Asset Acquisition & Redevelopment
Design, Planning & Permitting completed.
Construction Started, and currently still underway.
Hungarian Acquisitions:
Arena Mall Budapest,
65 800m2 Retail Asset Acquisition & Redevelopment
Construction placed on hold due to reprioritization of assets for redevelopment and Capital Constraints post-merger.
Mammut Shopping Centre, Budapest,
56 400m2 Retail Asset Acquisition & Redevelopment
Construction placed on hold due to reprioritization of assets for redevelopment and Capital Constraints post-merger.
Czech Republic Acquisitions:
Forum Liberec, Liberec,
46 600m2 Retail Asset Acquisition & Redevelopment
Forum Usti Nad Labem,
27 700m2 Retail Asset Acquisition & Redevelopment
Professional Team Appointed, Early Stages of Design, Planning and Permitting
Construction placed on hold due to reprioritization of assets for redevelopment and Capital Constraints post-merger.
Lithuanian Acquisitions:
Ozas Shopping Centre, Vilnius,
61 700m2 Retail Asset Acquisition & Redevelopment
Professional Team Appointed, Early Stages of Design, Planning and Permitting
Construction placed on hold due to reprioritization of assets for redevelopment and Capital Constraints post-merger.
Reasons for Leaving:
Cultural concerns post the merger along with personal considerations led to my resigning from the Group and returning to South Africa.
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