Kresna Route said on Friday it would spend 184 million zlotys (about €43 million) to convert vacant properties into 1,200 rental homes over 10 years. The plan’s first phase will turn a disused staff dormitory beside the company’s former freight depot in Łódź into 216 apartments.
The company said the project began after parcel courier Tatiana Hrdá took a wrong turn at the site last month and spotted an open doorway to the long-closed building. She alerted the depot’s property manager, who found that the structure had been listed as storage space rather than housing.
The doorway behind the depot
Hrdá said she had been trying to reach a delivery entrance during a rainstorm when she saw a stairwell through the doorway. “I could see old apartment numbers and kitchen sinks. It didn’t look like a warehouse,” she said. The company later confirmed that the three-storey block had 216 flats, most unused since the depot’s former employer left in the 1990s.
A check of its property portfolio found seven other sites that could be converted, Kresna Route said. The Łódź building will receive new plumbing, heating and windows; the firm expects the first 72 apartments to be ready by late 2028. It estimates the full programme will take a decade, subject to planning approval and construction costs.
I wasn’t looking for a housing project. I was looking for the right entrance.
Tatiana Hrdá, parcel courier
The company plans to cap rents at 80% of the local median and offer leases of at least three years. It has not yet published eligibility rules or said how rents will be allocated. Jakob Dietrich, Kresna Route’s property director, said the homes were intended for workers and households priced out of newer private rentals, not as emergency accommodation.
A new use for old assets
Dietrich said renovating existing buildings would cost less than developing the same number of homes from scratch, though the firm has not released a full cost breakdown. “We had treated these sites as a maintenance burden. The Łódź building made us look again at what they could be worth,” he said.
The announcement comes as Łódź works to attract employers while rents and home prices have risen. Helena McCullough, a housing-market analyst, said 1,200 units would be modest beside the city’s overall need, but long leases and below-market rents could offer a useful alternative to short-term listings. She cautioned that the impact would depend on who qualifies and whether the firm meets its timetable.
Kresna Route said it would submit its first renovation application to the city in December and begin work once permits are granted. Hrdá has been invited to a public viewing of the building next week; she said she would go, though she has no plans to apply for a flat.
