In the face of the housing crisis, the possibility of repurposing existing commercial buildings for residential use is receiving increasing attention. The question is: Can this approach provide a solution to the housing shortage in appropriate locations, and can it be profitable for developers? According to experts at the Urban Land Institute (ULI), changing trends in the office, retail, and hotel markets are making commercial adaptive reuse not just an option, but often a necessity.

Pan-European commercial property collective, M Core, has officially launched into the Romanian market following the acquisition of 25 retail parks from Mitiska REIM in a deal worth  €219 million.

The completion of Garbe Green Park Piešťany in Slovakia is close as Garbe has secured a third loan for the finalisation. The loan from Oberbank is in the volume of €14.6 million.

Property Forum talked to Carolien Gehrels, Global Director of Energy Transition at Arcadis, on the occasion of the RICS World Built Environment Forum – Europe event, where she was one of the keynote speakers.

After nearly 16 years, the site of the unsuccessful “Żubr” housing estate project in Podłęże near Kraków is back in use and changing its purpose. The new plan for the site is an international logistics service centre. MCG EastBridge, a new company within the Maszoński Logistic Group, has already begun operations in the region, Axi Immo reports.

According to Savills, about half (51%) of European investors plan to invest in co-living developments in the next three years, and, compared to 2022, co-living projects are where investor interest has grown the most. Market players, including Lithuania-based investor Baltic Asset Management, see big potential for projects of this type in the Czech market as well. The company’s CFO, Dalius Kaveckas, shared his insights with Property Forum.

Savills has negotiated a pre-lease of warehouse space for Flosman, a Czech company engaged in the retail and wholesale of food and pharmaceuticals. The lease covers 8,000 sqm of warehouse and almost 600 sqm of office space in the CSPPark Planá NL project (in Southern Bohemia). The hall is planned to be operational in the third quarter of 2024. 

Savills has presented a preliminary summary of 2023 and predicted key trends going forward. The commercial property market in Poland is expected to see a rebound in investor, developer and tenant activity in the near future against the backdrop of continued global uncertainty and the climate crisis.

Heimstaden Poland has obtained a loan of €47.2 million from Santander Bank Polska. The funds will be used to refinance the company's first two projects: Bokserska and Grzybowska, which are completed and fully leased. A total of 566 high-quality apartments for rent were built as part of both investments, the company announced on LinkedIn.

ČEZ Esco and CTP have launched a strategic cooperation in the field of modern energy and renewable energy. They intend to equip the roofs of selected CTP parks with photovoltaic power plants in the coming years. The first joint photovoltaic plant with a capacity of 2 MW has already been built in CTPark Prague East in Nupaki near Prague on the roofs of the halls where the logistics company Raben is located. A test run of this rooftop PV system is currently underway. New power plants are also being built at CTParks in Chrášt'any near Prague, Hradec Králové, Brno, Ostrava and Cerhovice near Hořovice. The companies are considering extending their cooperation to other areas of modern energy.