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Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and is published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.
A member of Poland’s parliament who represents the city of Kraków has sent a letter to the provincial conservator of monuments raising concern about plans by Robert De Niro’s hotel group to build a luxury development that incorporates a historic building in the city.
After photos from the site indicated that parts of the old building had been removed, the MP, Daria Gosek-Popiołek, called for “immediate action from the conservation services before it is too late”.
Earlier this year, Nobu Hotels – a firm founded and led by De Niro, Japanese celebrity chef Nobu Matsuhisa, and US-Israeli businessman Meir Teper – announced plans to build a hotel, residences and restaurant in Kraków, Poland’s second-largest city.
The group, which already operates a hotel and restaurant in Warsaw, claims that the Kraków project will be its “first-ever cultural district – a dynamic city within a city…featur[ing] a theatre stage, cinema hall, recording studio, co-working space and art gallery”.
The location of the investment is in a prime location near Kraków’s UNESCO-listed medieval Old Town and alongside the city’s famous Błonia park.
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The plot also includes a building, known as Miastoprojekt, constructed in the 1950s, when Poland was under communist rule.
It housed municipal architectural offices, which were responsible for, among other projects, developing Kraków’s Nowa Huta district, as well as urban plans for foreign cities, including Baghdad and Tunis. However, the building has been vacant for some time.
Nobu’s plans do not involve demolishing the historic building, which is listed as a protected monument in recognition of its status as a symbol of socialist-realist architecture, but rather incorporating it into the new development.
However, images from the site – where work began in the summer – show extensive activity not only around Miastoprojekt but also within it.
The building’s top-level roof, for example, appears to have been demolished, with construction vehicles visible in a gutted interior. A large, vertical hole also appears to have been knocked through the building’s back wall, stretching across three floors.
Those images, as well as complained from local residents and a city councilwoman, Agnieszka Łętocha, prompted Gosek-Popiołek, a left-wing MP who represents Kraków, to write to the provincial conservator of monuments, Katarzyna Urbańska.
She notes that, after seeing “photos showing the scale of work, residents and councilwoman Łętocha are concerned about the degree of interference with the historic structure of the building”. Therefore, “I am requesting an inspection of the works carried out by the investor”.
An abandoned communist-era hotel in Kraków – one of Poland's most luxurious when it opened – has been added to the register of protected monuments.
The decision has been criticised by the current owners, who say it will hinder plans to redevelop the area https://t.co/KrmFHWWHge
— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) October 13, 2025
In a separate social media post, Gosek-Popioł expressed concern that a building which “is, or at least should be, part of Kraków’s identity” is being “gutted and turned into another hotel bearing the name of a Hollywood star”.
“Today, only the façade may remain of this history. Literally,” she warned. “While [De Niro’s] roles in Taxi Driver and The Godfather are highly regarded, his ‘role’ in preserving Krakow’s heritage deserves a Golden Raspberry Award.”
“I expect full transparency and immediate action from the conservation services before it is too late,” added the politician. “We cannot consent to seeing yet another important city site disappear silently in the name of quick profits and a tourist monoculture.”
In 2020, one of Kraków’s liveliest nightlife and cultural spots, which had developed in the grounds of a former tobacco factory, was closed down by the owner of the site, a developer that intends to turn it into a luxury hotel and apartments.
One of Kraków's most popular culture and nightlife hubs – situated in a former tobacco factory – has been forced to close by the developer that owns the site.
Filling the gap it leaves behind will be a major challenge for the city, writes @makowski_m https://t.co/HyST8MUlgD
— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) September 18, 2020
Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.
Main image credit: Daria Gosek-Popiołek/Facebook
Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland. He has written on Polish affairs for a wide range of publications, including Foreign Policy, POLITICO Europe, EUobserver and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.
