Dom Marynarza set for revival as ARP and PHH team up on Gdynia's modernist landmark

One of the symbols of pre-war modernism on the Polish coast has a chance to recover its former prestige and leisure function. The Industrial Development Agency (ARP), the Polish Hotel Holding (PHH), the City of Gdynia and the company "Dom Marynarza" have signed a letter of intent launching investment cooperation on the revitalisation of the hotel at 1 Marszałka Józefa Piłsudskiego Avenue. The agreement was signed in the year Gdynia is marking the centenary of its city rights, a symbolic moment for a city whose identity has been maritime from the very start.

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09 july 2026   |   20:29   |   Source: Gazeta Morska   |   Prepared by: Kamil Kusier   |   Print

fot. Dom Marynarza

The signing was attended by Marek Zaleśny, Vice-President of the Management Board of ARP; Piotr Pawłowski, President of the Management Board of "Dom Marynarza"; Rafał Szmytke, President of the Management Board of the Polish Hotel Holding; and Tomasz Augustyniak, Deputy Mayor of Gdynia. The letter itself settles nothing about the shape or scale of the undertaking. It opens a phase of analyses meant to determine how far the modernisation will reach and on what financial model it will rest.

Analyses first, decisions later

The aim of the partnership is to carry out comprehensive business, legal and financial analyses that will assess the scope for expanding the building, raising its operating standard and developing a modern operating model, while respecting the building's historic character and making use of its exceptional location right on the seafront boulevard.

That distinction matters. The hotel is operating and, according to the property itself, underwent an interior refresh in 2026. The planned revitalisation, however, is an undertaking of a different order: it points to expansion and an eventual repositioning of the property, not cosmetics. The specific parameters, from the scope of works through the budget to a possible operator brand, remain open at this stage and are to emerge only from the commissioned analyses.

Division of roles: state capital plus hotel know-how

The structure of the partnership is clear. ARP, a company wholly owned by the State Treasury with 35 years of experience on the market, is to contribute financial backing and restructuring competence and to take responsibility for preparing the economic framework of the investment. PHH, a likewise state-owned operator that today runs a network of 48 properties and works with international chains including Marriott International, Hilton Worldwide, Best Western, IHG and Accor, brings operational and market experience. The City of Gdynia represents the interest of local government and the identity of the place, while the "Dom Marynarza" company remains the property's current custodian.

- Our goal is to create a profitable and modern business model for Dom Marynarza that will allow its unique assets to be used to their full potential, said Marek Zaleśny, noting that ARP's involvement fits the agency's mission of supporting Polish enterprise by combining financial and restructuring competence with a partner's operational experience.

Rafał Szmytke placed the project in the context of his group's strategy.

- Combining PHH's potential, ARP's stability and Gdynia's unique identity creates a synergy that will let us transform this historic building into a modern hotel that meets the contemporary needs of business and tourism, said the President of the Polish Hotel Holding.

Tomasz Augustyniak offered the local-government perspective, referring to the city's jubilee.-

- The almost hundred-year-old Dom Marynarza building is part of the city's history, a witness to the birth of modern Gdynia and proof of its maritime identity, the Deputy Mayor said. - I believe that, thanks to the cooperation between the Polish Hotel Holding and the Industrial Development Agency, a place will emerge that the people of Gdynia will be proud of for decades to come.

From Spa House to Sailor's House

The building's history reaches back to 1928, and its modernist form was designed by the Warsaw architect Adam Knauff. The property originally operated as an exclusive Spa House (Dom Zdrojowy) and was regarded as one of the most luxurious hotels on the Baltic: alongside a comfortable hotel wing it housed a modern bathing complex with 26 tubs for therapeutic warm and cold seawater baths, and on the ground floor of the grand edifice a large restaurant hall, a dance hall and a billiard room.

Over the following decades the building was rebuilt several times, including in the socialist-realist idiom; during the German occupation it bore the name Marine Gemeinschaftsheim Strandhotel. The year 1952 proved a turning point, when the edifice was handed over to Polish Ocean Lines (PLO) and, after modernisation, given the official name "Dom Marynarza" (Sailor's House). From that moment it was inhabited almost exclusively by people professionally connected with the sea and the national maritime industry. Regular guests included seafarers' families, who would say their farewells and greetings here as husbands and fathers set off on long voyages, a thread that, for the maritime community, makes this address something more than a heritage façade.

Heritage revitalisation, Polish hospitality's hottest trend

The Gdynia project lands squarely in a clear trend. Adapting historic and post-industrial buildings for hotel use has become in recent years one of the most distinctive directions on the Polish market. The loudest player here is the private Arche Group, which has built its growth strategy precisely on the commercial revitalisation of heritage sites, from the Szombierki power station to the Royal Paper Mill (Królewska Papiernia) in Konstancin-Jeziorna, and which is aiming over the next few years for a network on the order of 50 hotels.

PHH itself has been steadily modernising its own portfolio and increasingly reaching for properties of historic pedigree. In its announced 2025–2034 strategy the group divided its portfolio into City, Resort and Health Spa lines and pledged modernisation investment on the order of more than PLN 200 million a year. Under way are, among others, the conversion of Poznań's Ikar into a Four Points by Sheraton hotel and, together with the Polish Real Estate Holding (PHN), the modernisation of Warsaw's Regent under the JW Marriott banner. Against this backdrop, PHH's involvement in the Gdynia undertaking follows a coherent logic: pairing historic fabric with an international operating standard.

Why a partnership rather than a single investor

Revitalising a heritage building is rarely simpler or cheaper than building from scratch; usually it is the other way round. Industry analyses indicate that adapting a historic property can run considerably higher in cost than a greenfield investment, and lenders demand a markedly higher equity contribution and cost-overrun guarantees for such projects. Add to that conservation constraints and the surprises typical of old masonry, which come to light only once works begin. In that light, a model in which developmental state capital meets a specialised hotel operator is a direct response to the realities of financing this kind of investment.

One nuance is worth noting. ARP's latest 2026–2030 strategy emphasises low-emission energy, space technologies and investment in defence and dual-use technologies, areas far removed from hospitality. Its involvement in Dom Marynarza nonetheless falls within the agency's broader statutory role of financing corporate development and supporting restructuring processes. This is a project closer to ARP's classic development-and-investment function than to its flagship technology verticals.

What comes next

At this stage the key decisions still lie ahead of the partners. The commissioned analyses are to answer questions about the scope of the expansion, the target standard, the financial and operating model and, possibly, the brand under which the property would run. Only their findings will show whether, and in what form, Dom Marynarza returns to the top tier of seaside hospitality.

The symbolism, however, is hard to overstate. In the year of Gdynia's centenary, one of the city's most recognisable buildings, a witness to the birth of the Polish port and of the coast's maritime identity, stands at the threshold of a new chapter. If the promised synergy of state capital and hotel experience translates into something concrete, the address at 1 Piłsudskiego Avenue has a chance to become one of the model examples of heritage revitalisation on the Polish map.

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