Being first means three things: opportunity, risk and responsibility. Pioneers pave the way and set the example. They choose to walk the rugged, unknown road in the hope of finding success. In 1995, it is this road that newly founded Granit Polus chose when, under Sándor Demján’s leadership, it developed Hungary’s first Class “A” office building, the Bank Centre Budapest. The unprecedented breakthrough was followed by yet another pioneer step with the delivery of the region’s first Western-style shopping centre – Polus Center Budapest.

The Group was the first among all the Hungarian real estate developers to expand abroad, developing the Polus shopping center in Bratislava, followed by numerous other real estate developments in Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania, Russia and Croatia. Ahead of everyone, Granit Polus developed the first multifunctional building complex, West-End City Center in Budapest, which was regarded as an overwhelming success and first in the region, it also won the Oscar of real estate development industry, the FIABCI award. The Group constructed Central and Eastern Europe’s largest cultural center, the Palace of Arts in Budapest, which was also the region’s first Public Private Partnership applied for a cultural project. Whilst preserving its core values defined more than 20 years ago, today Granit Polus is a dynamic player in the real estate development and real estate management market and is currently working on its latest projects, which will yet again mean being first and represent a milestone in real estate development. The accumulated knowledge, experience and ambition that defined the Group over the last two decades authorises me as well as all my colleagues to be proud of the past and to look to the future, in which being first will once again mean responsibility but at the same time wide range of opportunities which leads to the success.