More than three decades after its opening, the Royal Passage at the Coal Market in Gdansk may face demolition. The investor's application has already reached the office, although it has not yet been considered. This is another planned change in this part of the city - the Elfeko company, owner of the passage, also owns the LOT pavilion, whose future has been stirring emotions in the city for years.
Another department store is being prepared for demolition. It concerns the Royal Passage in Gdansk, built in the 1990s. It opened in 1993 in the vicinity of the Coal Market, with 750 sqm and about 29 stalls.
Investor wants to demolish the Royal Passage
The demolition of the building has been talked about in the city for several years, as small-scale trade began to decline particularly badly after the opening of the giant Forum Gdansk shopping center in 2018. As early as 2021, the Royal Passage company submitted a relevant demolition application to the City Hall. The building has remained in the city's landscape, but there are many indications that it will be razed this time. The building has recently been in the hands of the Elfeko company, which has also owned the iconic LOT building since 2012, and has been floating plans to transform the space at the Coal Market for years.
In 2017, Elfeko settled a competition organized with the participation of SARP "Wybrzeże" for a new development at the LOT site. It also envisaged the development of adjacent lots. The first place in the competition was not awarded, the second place went to the Gdansk studio KD Kozikowski Design. The investor indicated this project for implementation, but such a decision caused a lot of controversy in the city.
In 2017, Elfeko settled a competition, organized with the participation of SARP "Wybrzeże", for a new development at the LOT site. The project by KD Kozikowski Design was selected and awarded second place
KD Kozikowski Design
The case with the demolition of the LOT pavilion also did not go the investor's way. In 2020, the Pomeranian Regional Monument Conservator issued a refusal. On the other hand, the Elfeko company received the green light for the demolition of the tenement building at 8 Waly Jagiellońskie Street, adjacent to LOT and the Royal Passage.
Uncertain future of LOT building and neighborhood
The application for the demolition of the Royal Passage and the adjacent office and service building was submitted to the authority in late October. So far, due to formal deficiencies, it has not been considered.
- Due to the property's location in an area entered in the register of monuments, it is the conservation authority that will largely decide on the architecture of the new building, taking into account the provisions of the local zoning plan, informs Izabela Kozicka-Prus of the Municipal Office in Gdansk .
She adds that no other Elfeko application on the site is currently being processed, nor has permission been granted for the demolition of the LOT building.
What is known, however, is that the investor is working on a development project for the LOT plot and adjacent land. However, Elfeko does not want to report on the details - probably out of concern about renewed controversy surrounding the new development, which could stall the investor's plans for years to come.
The investor has submitted a request to demolish the Royal Passage
Ewa Karendys
The demolition of the Royal Passagewill mean that Gdansk will lose another piece of the urban landscape from before the shopping mall era. The Royal Passage is not the only such building to disappear from the heart of the city. At the end of 2024, the Market Hall, which housed around a hundred merchants from various industries, closed down in the heart of Gdansk. Today, Apsys is redeveloping it, and a foodhall will open inside the hall in the summer of 2026.
