West End Business Center

BUDAPEST - 6. 9. 2010

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The glorious 150 years of Váci Street

Váci Street has been a major street of Budapest for one and a half centuries. There are few other locations of the capital that has proved its capability to renew so many times. Interestingly enough it has always been capable and ideal to do so when the greatest need arrived for it. In the middle of the 19th century it welcomed the founders of factories, then acted as a Northern contrast of the Southern 'Red' Csepel Island and has recently experienced the influx of capital. In merely a decade glittering, sleek glass palaces replaced the dusty gray blocks of industry.

Váci Street was made great by the industry of Budapest. Both its creation and development can be linked to factories though their deterioration has nothing to do with the street. Its special location - the street presents the most significant link to the north of Budapest, - the characteristics of capital, the support of the local government and a little bit of luck all contributed to its rebirth.

And what makes it important? Just a few examples: two of the city's most significant shopping complexes (Westend Citycenter and Duna Plaza) are located next to it similarly to the headquarters of the police and social security as well as dozens of office buildings, hotels, car showrooms, plazas, bank- and insurance company buildings. Váci Street has been - and supposedly will be - spending its busy workdays under tall construction cranes.

The first signs of industry appeared in the 1850s when shipbuilding started in the bay of Újpest followed by the establishment of foundries and mills which were no longer wanted downtown. The main drive proved to be, however, a decision of the Council of Public Works joining Fegyvergyár Street (today called Szent István Boulevard) to Nagykörút. As a result of this ruling property prices in the neighborhood increased dramatically despite Pest being gripped by the craze of building factories. Investors found huge plots of land required for construction of factories along Váci Street. In the second half of the century myriads of plants were built there including Höcker Antal's Steam furnace- and Machine Plant (later to be pipe factory), a Ganz Ship Factory and Láng Machine Plant. To meet increased demand the street was widened in 1871 thus eradicating a nearby graveyard. A few years later the terminus of Pest was built later to function as Western Railway Station. Two bridges were built (Margaret bridge and Bridge of Újpest) and the development of the railway system made it possible for the industrial zone to obtain raw materials. About seven thousand workers were employed in the factories at the time mainly Germans and Moravians living in the settlements of small houses in the neighborhood (Tripoli was the most notorious of all named after - what else but - a pub).

The era following World War II was spent with the merger of factories and the increase of their productivity. Most of the residential areas of ill repute were demolished and blocks of flats as well as housing estates filled the gaps. The style of Váci Street did not change however. It remained a main street with dense traffic, exhaust smoke and gray industrial area despite the construction of the subway line below.

The winds of change swept through the factories saturated with refuse oil and the sweat of the proletariat when the Duna Plaza was built (1995-96). The facilitator of the shopping mall's construction, which is by the way still one of the most popular, is a factory owner itself. With the help of an Israeli investor Transelektro Rt. moved its very own machinery to the countryside to have a shopping complex of forty-two thousand square meters built in its place for HUF eight billion. It was a smart choice. The company dealing with property management ever since - though not as its core business - ran rings around the pros. A new style of behavior was created: mall existence. For years it seemed that its success could never be rivaled. Then came a model professional - accidentally a Hungarian once again - and had Westend, the biggest shopping mall in Eastern-Central Europe built. Twenty million customers visited four hundred shops in one year alone. (Sándor Demján was well aware what the Hungarian public required having worked in the socialist system of commerce. Skála-Metró department store right opposite Westend as well as Pólus Center are associated with him.)

With the shop-hotel-office complex built next the Western Railway Station Váci Street irrevocably and literally became one of the most important 'business' lane of the city. A dozen modern office buildings, bank and insurance headquarters have been built in the last decade on the stretch between Körút and Árpád Street in the center of Újpest. Let us have a look at the largest ones.

Opposite the shopping complex the Swedish firm Skanska had a 26-thousand-square meter office building constructed on the site of the former Autovill factory. At the head of the renovated Ferdinánd Bridge the headquarters of Providencia insurance company can be seen in a style still hotly disputed among architects. Besides Lehel market hall is being constructed next to St. Margaret Church. Although it is neither an office nor headquarters, a market hall of an area of 44 thousand square meters built from a budget of almost HUF 6 billion is certainly worth mentioning. The market is expanded with parking lots on the top floor as well as an archaic style indoors. It is scheduled to open to the public at the end of the year.

At Dózsa György Street the compound building of Duna Office Center and River Estates dwarf the nearby, old buildings such as the Vízmű and the protected building of Elmű headquarters as well as the partly renovated Volga Hotel. The next junction is the Pest side of Árpád Bridge with the social security headquarters, Globe 13 and two other office buildings being reflected in the shiny glass and marble surface of the police headquarters. No skyscraper is to be constructed there however. The permit for the plans of the unique building with twin towers containing offices, a hotel, a restaurant, car parks, moreover flats and lookout tower was rejected by the Court of Constitution.

But let us move on. The road leads on between motor showrooms and trade centers up to Perion. A modern plant was built in 1942 on the Váci Street front of the battery factory originally set up between 1904 and 1906, which the National Institute for Monuments intended to include in the list of industrial monuments to be protected not so long ago. They were late. Perion had already sold the plant and the buyers had been dreaming about an office building there. The only consolation is that they are willing to use their own resources to have the extremely poisoned soil under the plants cleaned.

Rico industrial plant also has a new owner with Wallis Ingatlan Rt. building Danubius III office building on the empty plot. Further away Duna Plaza, which is due to be expanded soon, can be seen with Unilever headquarters being built in the neighboring area: 17 thousand square meters for HUF 2.5 billion. Budapest Bank and OTP established buildings alongside them. They face Metrotech Office Building. The American investor who once expanded and reconstructed the former plant of Tungsram decided to finance the old factory after seeing the success of Bankcenter. The two wings of the building will house five thousand square meters of office space.

The former house tram terminus near Újpest is the most beautiful of all the buildings reborn like a phoenix. The last stop of the first horse tram line in Budapest once housing even a ballroom and guest rooms considerably deteriorated by 1980 when it was declared to be under protection. It waited for the miracle for years. Its new owners finally worked miracles. Sparing no time or costs the building was renovated based on original photographs and descriptions. Stuccos, cast iron stoves, custom made wrought iron railings and copper chandeliers muse on ages past. In contrast with them the technical specifications look optimistically into the future.

After Árpád Street leading to the center of Újpest Váci Street becomes once again what it once used to be winding between ancient factories and single-story houses apart from a few filling stations and a new hotel. The investors have not made it this far yet. Nevertheless the construction work carried out in the 'central' Váci Street may give hope to this area as well.

According to real estate experts, development of such magnitude is not a coincidence. There is hardly anywhere more ideal for the construction of office buildings than Váci Street. Besides the required facilities many of the previous factories and plants are still standing. They could either be turned into office buildings of the future or knocked down extremely easily. Moreover their price is also acceptable. The lack of many protected buildings might also prove beneficial similarly to the favorable architectural standards imposed by the local government. The new office buildings have a uniform façade to present. However, it is not just the exterior that is similar, but leases as well: thirty German marks per month per square meter on average.

Szilossy Anna

Source: www.ingatlanbefektetes.hu