TriGranit has laid the foundation stone of the first phase of its new Class-A office development, Silesia for Business in Katowice, Poland. The office building will be the final element of the mixed-use development project of TriGranit, started 15 years ago and realised on a 30 hectares large brownfield area. The post-mining area today includes a shopping mall and residential estates, while the new office building, providing approx. 26,000 sqm GLA and more than 400 parking spaces, is expected to be completed in Q4, 2021.

European office take-up is forecast to reach 9.2 million sqm by the end of 2019, down 4% from 2018’s end-year volume. Prague is expected to exceed that decline, with take-up predicted to fall by 22% to 400,000 sqm as demand for office space in the Czech capital continues the downward trend that began in Q2, according to the latest Savills research.

Dutch-based property manager MVGM announced the closing in Poland as part of the previously announced acquisition of JLL’s European property management business and the alliance partnership in 10 European countries. As of today, the JLL activities in Portugal and Spain are also integrated into the MVGM company. This marks the completion of the acquisition which includes an additional 12 million square meters to the MVGM European portfolio and access to additional high-profile clients including leading global real estate investors.

Polish modular producer Polcom will be able to expand its operations thanks to a financial package provided by a consortium of banks to which the EBRD is contributing PLN 108.43 million (€25 million equivalent).

Real estate developer Hagag Development Europe continues its investments in Bucharest by adding a new office property to its local portfolio: Tudor Arghezi 21. The transaction value exceeds €9 million. 

For the first three quarters of 2019, the CEE region has recorded an investment volume of ca. €9 billion. Offices dominate the deal flows with a 58% share, followed by a much slower retail sector with 18%, industrial & logistics (9%) and hotels (8%).

Flow East announced the topping out of its landmark project being constructed on Wenceslas Square (Václavské náměstí) as contractor Metrostav placed the last beam atop the structure.

Resco, one of the global leaders in mobile business solutions, has leased more than 2,400 square meters at Nivy Tower, the newest office building by the Slovak developer HB Reavis. With this lease, the company ranks among the first tenants of the highest high-tech building in Slovakia and in April 2020 will move its Slovak headquarters together with all 100 employees to the new modern and functional premises.

The development of e-commerce has a growing impact on the development of the industrial real estate sector. The origins can be found in the change of our shopping habits – the popularization of e-commerce has revolutionized logistics operations in warehouses, according to Adrian Semaan, Consultant at the Industrial and Logistics Agency at Cushman & Wakefield Poland.

During their 7th CEE Annual Meeting held at the British Ambassador’s Residence in Vienna, RICS announced the new Advisory Board for Austria, which will be responsible for implementing RICS’ strategic goals locally and will work closely with key stakeholders in Austria.