Echo Investment has presented a design of Nowa Cracovia, which has been developed by architects under the management of Prof. Witold Cęckiewicz – the author of the architecture of the former Cracovia hotel. The building and its facade have been designed in a way which clearly alludes to the modernist tradition of the original design. The construction of Nowa Cracovia will make it possible to introduce useful functions which will be available to general public and will consequently return Cracovia and its surroundings to the residents of the city.

The building of the former Cracovia hotel, which has been designed by Prof. Cęckiewicz at the beginning of 1960s, has not been in operation for two years. The former hotel which is out of service can only be used as an advertisement carrier today. In order to retain the unique character the Cracovia area and its architecture, Echo Investment requested Prof. Cęckiewicz to develop the design of Nowa Cracovia. It would replace the worn out building and revive the Błonie area thanks to its new functions. It would also enable us to implement the original urban plan of Prof. Cęckiewicz from 50 years ago, which assumed the construction of an elegant city square between the National Museum and Cracovia.
The new building is planned to include some area for fashion, culture, art and business. The investor"s plans involve the construction of a city centre department store with an area of 28,000 sqm, which will provide space for shops, restaurants, exhibition areas and recreational functions. A multi-storey car park for 760 cars will also be built in front of the facility. Such capacity of the car park definitely exceeds the needs of Nowa Cracovia, thanks to which over 200 parking spaces will serve as a public city car park. The construction of Nowa Cracovia will be possible when the area is included in the local zoning plan that will allow us to change the functions of the building and extend it. The assumptions which have been adopted in a draft zoning plan make it impossible to carry out any project at the site of the "modern ruins" of Cracovia and condemn it to the fate similar to that of the Kraków"s "Skeletor" or the Forum hotel.  The adoption of the plan according to officials" suggestions will block the possibility of returning urban life to the historical urban axis of Błonie. The outdated structure of the former Cracovia hotel makes it impossible to convert its interior and adapt it to the modern functions or standards. Nearly all reinforced walls inside the building, which are placed between the rooms from 2.6 to 3.9 m away from each other, are load bearing walls. The building includes over 500 rooms with areas ranging from 10-16 sqm, which cannot be combined or redeveloped due to the current layout of the windows. Thin ceilings with a thickness of only 9 cm do not allow us to adjust the building to the needs of shops or offices, not to mention warehouses. Another barrier which makes it impossible to adapt the interiors to such needs is the height of individual floors - only 2.5 m. The building has also irrevocably lost the possibility of offering hotel services. It was explicitly confirmed by its former owner – the Accor international chain, which sold the building because of the lack of economic justification for maintaining the Cracovia hotel. The necessity of changing the function of the building, its outdated structure and bad technical condition determine the demolition of the building. The facade of Cracovia, which has been designed by Prof. Cęckiewicz, is protected by being included in the municipal historical records, but there is no possibility of retaining it in the current form due to the presence of carcinogenic asbestos in the external walls. There is a total of 18 tonnes of this dangerous substance under the aluminium facade. More information about the project is available at the www.NowaCracovia.pl website.