Drawing on the existing research on the socio-economic impact of cultural heritage on local and regional development, the author's aim is to further the scientific discourse in two ways. Firstly, she focuses on the economic and social significance of private investors as important actors implementing heritage restoration projects. Although these initiatives are often primarily commercial in character, they may nonetheless exert a strong, broadly positive influence on local and regional development processes, especially if a cluster of such projects develops within a relatively small area richly endowed with a specific type of heritage. Secondly, she provides empirical evidence from Central and Eastern Europe, a region little explored to date by studies of this type. Accordingly, the article examines the specific context of post-1989 private heritage-oriented investments in historic palace and garden residences in the region of Lower Silesia in Poland, a heritage previously unwanted, ethnically and ideologically dissonant, but nowadays being rediscovered to an increasing extent.