Meridian Business Park: Global Issues and Insufficient Warehouse Space Drive Development of Business Zone

Although before the coronavirus crisis Meridian 16 Business Park, the business zone near Velika Gorica, as the only private and ecological business park in Croatia, was not growing and developing rapidly, everything changed from 2020 onwards. With the change in market conditions, the advantages of the location offering land suitable for logistics and the possibility of ‘light’ manufacturing just twenty kilometers from the center of Zagreb became clear to everyone. Last year, Meridian 16 Business Park generated around fifty million kuna, and this positive business trend continues this year, although Ivana Bakunić, the Park’s director, expects higher revenues in the second half of the year.

Currently, about 500,000 square meters of land is being utilized, explains Bakunić, which is about fifty percent of the business zone’s area, and with the construction of additional infrastructure, the remaining land will be put on the market, which is the third phase of the Park’s development. Since the market is still not sufficiently covered with the necessary warehouse-distribution spaces, there is still significant interest in them in the Park, so they are rapidly preparing the land for further development.

– Meridian 16 initially developed quite slowly, primarily due to the sluggishness of the administration and judiciary. It took years to resolve property law relations and to build the necessary infrastructure, i.e., roads and others, which we financed ourselves to bring the business zone to market as soon as possible. Cooperation with the state is particularly complicated because in the consolidation of land, some parcels need to be purchased from it. But we are not unique in this; unfortunately, it is a problem for all larger projects in Croatia. Fortunately, the local community and the City of Velika Gorica support the project as it is very important for the economic development of this entire area. About a thousand people will soon be employed in the business zone, and this year a regular bus line will start operating towards the zone. Velika Gorica will generate significant budget amounts from investors in the zone as part of the communal contribution, and later from other payments, so it is certainly in the City’s interest to attract as many companies as possible – says Bakunić.

To break into the market, Bakunić claims they have participated in all relevant real estate business conferences both domestically and internationally, are members of many business and professional associations, and have systematically developed the project considering all key parameters to ensure the business zone’s success and attract quality users. The market has recognized this, and Bakunić gives the example: Atlantic Group, which has a central logistics-distribution warehouse for Croatia there, cargo-partner d.o.o. which recently moved into new premises, Kuehne & Nagel, and Eurospin Croatia which has a central warehouse and management headquarters in the zone.

The Meridian 16 business zone has received the DGNB (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Nachhaltiges Bauen – German Council for Sustainable Building, ed.) international gold certificate, making it unique in Croatia, and the vision of the company’s owners is to become the leading ecological-industrial zone in the entire region, a place where economy and ecology meet. Bakunić explains that this means that from the very beginning of planning the zone’s content and the placement of future users, green guidelines are applied, such as the installation of LED lighting and the planning of green areas, bike paths, and solar power plants.