This is the English version of an article first published in Polish: read the Polish original. It refers to source material: propertynews.pl. The text is our own commentary, not a translation or copy of that source.

At the intersection of ul. Lentza and ul. Królowej Marysieńki stands an estate that has been known for decades as Red Pigs' Bay. The nickname comes from its early residents, party officials of the communist PZPR, and after 1989 some of the flats passed to politicians of the post communist SLD party, including Aleksander Kwaśniewski, Leszek Miller, Józef Oleksy, Jerzy Szmajdziński and Janusz Zemke. Today it is an ordinary prefab concrete panel estate. In its 23 blocks, ranging from 2 to 12 storeys, in the area bounded by Lentza, Królowej Marysieńki, Marconich and Aleja Wilanowska, live about 10,000 people.

A few years ago the site's owner, the state controlled Polski Holding Nieruchomości, planned to demolish the whole estate and put up 16 new buildings with 800 flats in its place, cutting down about 180 trees along the way. After criticism from residents and local activists, the company dropped that plan. Instead of demolition there will be modernisation, keeping the 1980s architecture but adding modern installations.

What exactly will change

The renovation will start with 4 buildings at the Lentza and Królowej Marysieńki intersection, 2 taller and 2 lower, which together will hold roughly 90 flats. In the taller blocks the existing lifts will be replaced, while the lower ones, which never had lifts, will get new ones installed. The plan also adds new balconies, larger windows, green terraces and photovoltaic panels. This summer PHN filed for a building permit for this first phase, the administrative procedure is now underway, and the company expects a decision by mid year. The construction work itself is scheduled to take at least 18 months, and PHN wants to select a contractor by the end of 2026 so that building can start early next year.

The estate's revitalization is one part of PHN's broader 2025 to 2030 strategy called Nowy Start, under which the company wants to build 3,000 flats, already has about 400 under construction, and is also planning a new Intraco office tower roughly 107 metres tall. For the residents of Red Pigs' Bay itself, though, what matters most is that after years of uncertainty they now know their estate is staying, just in a new form.