The Iulius Company has commenced the works for the retail component included in the Openville Timişoara project, the largest mixed-use development in the west of Romania. The first phase of the project integrating the current Iulius Mall Timişoara is set for completion in Q4 2018 and will include 47,000 sqm of additional retail premises, 100,000 sqm of Class A offices, a park, a traffic underpass, as well as more than 1,500 new parking places.

Skanska’s commercial development business unit in Central Eastern Europe will be the first developer worldwide to cover office buildings with semi-transparent perovskite solar cells on a commercial scale. Saule Technologies will be the technology provider. The initial implementation tests are planned for 2018 in Poland.

pbb Deutsche Pfandbriefbank provided an investment facility of €41.4 million to companies owned by a professional private real estate investor and managed by development and investment company Amesbury s.r.o. The funds will be used to refinance the Zlicin and Chrastany business parks near Prague. Thereby pbb extended the maturity of its financing by another five years. The transaction closed in December 2017.

Colliers REMS Hungary has been assigned by Skanska for the role of property manager for Mill Park Offices, from 2018. Mill Park is Skanska’s latest office project in Budapest, consisting of two buildings, Mill Park A and Mill Park B, with a total GLA of 36,000 sqm, divided over 7 floors and 538 parking places. Building B will be delivered in Q2 2018, while building A in Q3 2018.

The Rezidor Hotel Group announced the signing of the Radisson Blu Hotel Timisoara. This takes the group's portfolio in Romania to four hotels. Radisson Blu and Mulberry Development will create an international upper upscale hotel in Timisoara, the main social, economic and cultural hub in Western Romania - and the European Capital of Culture for 2021.

PRO-LOG has decided to extend the lease of 15,000 square meters of warehouse space in the MLP Pruszków I park. At the same time PRO-LOG decided to increase its warehouse space by additional 5,000 square meters to 20,000 square meters in total. All the facilities will be equipped with state-of-the-art LED lighting.

P3 has acquired a second logistics park near Lovosice, in the Ústí region of the Czech Republic, from HB Reavis. The new park, to be known as P3 Lovosice Cargo, comprises a single 43,500 sqm warehouse which is fully let to a long-term occupier and houses all of its business operations, including offices. P3 Lovosice Cargo has a direct rail link to the nearby international rail freight container terminal. Its accessibility is further enhanced by connections to Exits 45 and 48 on the recently opened D8 motorway.

Wratislavia Center, a mixed-use property in Wroclaw has been sold to FLE, an investment advisor headquartered in Vienna. FLE bought the asset on behalf of FLE SICAV FIS, a real estate fund headquartered in Luxemburg and owning a commercial real estate portfolio in Europe and the US exceeding € 2 bn.

Globalworth is, according to zf.ro, in talks with NEPI Rockcastle to acquire The Office Cluj and City Business Centre Timisoara. The investor completed a €330 million ordinary share issue at the end of last year and intends to use the money raised for investments in Poland and Romania.

Last year, in a landmark deal, CPI Property Group has acquired 11 CEE retail assets from funds managed by CBRE Global Investors. Country Manager Mátyás Gereben talked to us about the company’s future plans for Hungary and revealed what’s in store for the five assets – shopping centres Pólus and Campona, the Andrássy Complex and two Interpsar stores – that were added to CPI’s Hungarian portfolio as a result of the €650 million deal.