I have been involved in the commercial real estate market Marek Ciunowicz since the mid-1990s. He started when Warsaw’s main office landmark was the Palace of Culture and Science. In his career, he has co-founded and worked in foreign agencies in Poland, and was also a partner in a Polish agency.
“I made the decision to create my own boutique commercial real estate agency – Corees Polska a long time ago, and this thought had been smoldering in my head for at least a decade, until I felt a greater need for flexibility, independence, dynamism in running projects, relationships with clients, getting out of a rigidly defined framework.” – says Marek Ciunowicz, CEO at Corees Poland. “I suspect that this desire for independence and flexibility in many fields is becoming a driving force for change. To redefine your own brand according to your own knowledge and experience, define values, quality and scope of cooperation with customers.” – He adds.
Looking at the commercial real estate market from the perspective of my almost 30 years of experience, it is thanks to these major foreign agencies that the commercial real estate market has taken shape in Poland. 20 years ago, only large organizations with know-how and experience gained in other markets entered Poland. And only they could afford to take such a step. Nowadays, the people setting up boutique agencies are those who have gained experience precisely in corporations, taking inspiration from them, improving standards of cooperation, developing know how or relationships. At the same time, rejecting what could not be implemented in the Polish market, which is often due to cultural differences or a different way of approaching business execution. Currently, the Polish office market is more mature, and the emergence of new companies or the entry of smaller players into our market is a natural element that can only benefit from the diversity available in the market.
The trend of spinning off from structures or creating new companies obviously applies not only to agencies’ brokerage services departments. Hotel departments, property management or architects are also being spun off. In each case, it is the person who counts and with him his knowledge, experience and knowledge of the market. This is becoming more and more apparent also from the perspective of the general trend focusing on the development of personal brands, and on the basis of them building the authenticity of the business conducted.
A huge advantage of boutique agencies is their independence and lack of elaborate, ossified structures. Coming as a client to such an agency, you can be almost 100% sure that you are in the hands of a person with a wealth of knowledge and experience. Therefore, these relationships, dynamism in action, and readiness to think outside the box are often key advantages. Clients often prefer to be an important client for a boutique professional agency rather than one of the clients of a large corporation. Relationships between employees of such agencies and clients are not strictly formalized, but are often built on purely human cooperation and sympathy, while maintaining full professionalism in transactions. For us, as a boutique agent, what matters is not quantity, but quality and stability of cooperation in the long term.
“There are many associations and international organizations of commercial real estate professionals, and they are a kind of mixer of experiences. These include precisely the small boutique agencies created by professionals. Working together, the agencies have more clout, while they remain free in their decisions. Altogether, they form a large international network of cooperation with expertise in specific markets. This makes them a much greater and competitive force in relations with clients or in tenders. Sometimes we hear that as a boutique agency we are not international. However, it is important to remember that what we have learned has not stayed behind us. We have experience from global companies whose standards and way of operating we de facto created ourselves, and these combined with the international contacts we have build our clout.”. – M. Ciunowicz emphasizes.
“The fact that new structures are appearing on the Polish market, including foreign ones, only proves that our market is popular and perceived as interesting for both domestic business and international investment. Hence, in our market, new organizations or associations entering into alliance with real estate agencies. I believe that the market is for everyone. It is a place and for larger and smaller structures. And the fact that some certain companies are emerging and others are consolidating or changing- in effect giving customers much more choice. I personally always prefer to have a choice. – Marek Ciunowicz concludes,
