New Residential Development and Park & Ride Facility

Kabaty is beginning to enter a new, more complex relationship with the wider urban structure of Warsaw. After years of consultations and discussions concerning the future of the former Tesco hypermarket site, city councillors have approved a residential development under the lex developer framework. On the site of the former shopping centre, a new neighbourhood designed by the architectural practice WWAA will be developed, featuring service-oriented ground floors, underground parking, a public urban square and publicly accessible green spaces.

Following the demolition of the shopping gallery on Komisji Edukacji Narodowej Avenue (al. KEN), one of the largest plots in Kabaty remained an undeveloped void within the urban fabric of southern Ursynów. The former Tesco site had originally been conceived as a standalone retail building surrounded by surface parking—an urban model typical for the rapidly developing outskirts of Warsaw at the time. Today, amid increasing housing demand and the ongoing transformation of large-format retail, such sites are increasingly subject to redevelopment.

At the end of November 2025, the developer Archicom, part of the Echo Investment Group, submitted an application to implement the project under the lex developer procedure. On 12 February 2026, the Warsaw City Council granted approval for the project to proceed.

WWAA’s Urban Strategy

The design by the award-winning practice WWAA proposes a shift away from a single, monolithic retail volume toward a more articulated, urban block structure. In place of the former store, a mixed-use residential complex will be created, incorporating commercial spaces, underground parking and a Park & Ride facility.

The development will comprise nine residential buildings containing 410 apartments. Six of the buildings will feature commercial and retail uses at ground level, while additional service premises are planned on level −1. Both the developer and the architects emphasise that the project is intended to establish a new, multifunctional piece of urban fabric with services that will finally integrate this site into the everyday life of the district.

Dialogue with the City and Residents

Following public consultations and negotiations with the city authorities, the concept underwent several significant revisions. The building that was originally intended to dominate the surrounding area has been reduced in height to ten storeys. The number of planned trees has also been doubled, with 280 new plantings proposed for the site.

The developer will transfer 450 m² of commercial premises and 145 parking spaces to the city as part of a Park & Ride facility. In addition, the developer will co-finance upgrades to the surrounding road network, including the transformation of Iwanowa-Szajnowicza Street into a woonerf—a shared street prioritising pedestrians and cyclists.

The WWAA design assumes that the district should extend into the development, rather than the development isolating itself from its surroundings. The buildings are therefore divided into smaller volumes with active ground floors. Green courtyards and extensive planting are intended to soften the perception of density and introduce more semi-public spaces to Kabaty.

“All vehicular traffic will be relocated to the underground garage, allowing the public realm above ground to be organised and clearly prioritised for pedestrians and cyclists. This solution will improve everyday comfort, including access to the metro station, Kabaty Forest and local services. The design provides for 30% of the site area to remain biologically active, nearly 15% of which will consist of vegetation planted in native soil. This will ensure appropriate water retention conditions and contribute to an improved microclimate,”
say architects Natalia Paszkowska, Marcin Mostafa and Krzysztof Mazanek from WWAA.

The architecture of the project reflects an attempt to reconcile two conditions: the calm, green character of the district and the growing pressure for higher-density development in proximity to the Kabaty metro station. It represents an example of deliberate urban planning in which not only the number of apartments matters, but also integration with public transport and the availability of local services.

Within the ongoing debate surrounding the lex developer framework, a recurring question emerges: should the city continue expanding outward toward the periphery, or intensify development around well-connected transport nodes? Kabaty has become one of the places where these questions will soon take on a tangible architectural form.