Kabaty is entering into a new, more complex relationship with Warsaw. After many years of consultations and discussions about the future of the site of the former Tesco hypermarket, councillors have approved a residential development under the lex deweloper (developer’s law) procedure. The former shopping centre will be replaced by a housing estate designed by the WWAA studio, with commercial spaces, an underground car park, a city square and publicly accessible green areas.
After the demolition of the shopping centre on KEN Avenue, one of the largest plots in Kabaty remained undeveloped in the structure of southern Ursynów. The site of the former Tesco was built as a free-standing commercial facility surrounded by a car park, which was the standard model for the developing suburbs of Warsaw at the time. Today, in an era of growing housing pressure and the redefinition of shopping centres, similar plots are increasingly becoming the subject of transformation. At the end of November 2025, the developer, Archicom, part of the Echo Investment group, submitted an application for the investment to be carried out under the lex deweloper (developer’s law) procedure. On 12 February 2026, the Warsaw City Council gave the green light for the project to go ahead.
WWAA urban strategy
The design by the award-winning WWAA studio involves moving away from a closed structure in favour of a more urban character. The former shop will be replaced by a housing estate with commercial space, an underground car park and a P R car park. Nine residential buildings with 410 flats will be built on the site. Six of them will have commercial and service functions on the ground floors, with additional premises also planned on level -1. The investor and WWAA emphasise that the project will create a new, multifunctional urban fabric with services that will finally “integrate” this plot into the life of the district.
Dialogue with the city and residents
Following public consultations and negotiations with the city, the concept underwent several significant adjustments. The building, which was originally intended to dominate the neighbourhood, has been reduced to 10 storeys. The number of trees has also been doubled, with 280 new trees to be planted on the plot. The investor will provide the city with 450 m² of commercial space and 145 Park & Ride parking spaces. In addition, the developer will participate in the modernisation of the surrounding road system, including the reconstruction of Iwanowa-Szajnowicza Street into a so-called Woonerf, i.e. a street dedicated to pedestrians and cyclists. The WWAA project assumes that the district will become part of the housing estate, and not the other way around. The buildings have therefore been divided into smaller segments, with ground floors serving a commercial function. Green courtyards and plantings are intended to alleviate the feeling of density and introduce more semi-public space to Kabaty.
Car traffic will be moved entirely to an underground car park, which will tidy up the space and give it a distinctly pedestrian and cyclist-friendly character. This solution will improve the comfort of everyday life, access to the underground and Kabacki Forest, as well as local services. The design assumes that 30% of the plot will be biologically active, of which nearly 15% will be native greenery. This will ensure adequate retention conditions and improve the microclimate , sayarchitects Natalia Paszkowska, Marcin Mostafa and Krzysztof Mazanek from the WWAA studio, which is responsible for the design.
The architecture of the investment reflects an attempt to reconcile two worlds: a quiet, green neighbourhood and the pressure of the city for denser development in the vicinity of the Kabaty metro station. This is an example of conscious urban planning, where it is not only the number of flats that counts, but also integration with transport and the availability of services. In the debate on the lex developer, the question is increasingly being asked whether the city should spread out to the periphery or become denser in well-connected areas. Kabaty has become one of the places where these questions will soon take on a real architectural form.
More information: www.wwaa.pl
source: press materials
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