Hungary's B+N Referencia Zrt. has acquired Bulgarian facility management company i-Facility EOOD. With this new subsidiary, the company is now present in 7 countries in Central Europe. 

Genesis Property is investing €50 million in YUNITY Park, a mixed-use project in Bucharest with co-working and co-living components. Darren Allen, Development Director of Genesis Property spoke to Property Forum about the office market amidst the adoption of hybrid working and investing in campuses with complex facilities for a new work and play experience.

The vacancy rate of the Prague Office market has not changed in Q2 2022 and remained at the same value as in the previous quarter. Nevertheless, the rents and service fees continue to rise and the volume of net take-up is the highest since the end of 2019, says Colliers.

Revetas Capital announced a new promotion within the legal team: Joanna Przybyl has taken over the role of General Counsel for the firm. Joanna has been working in partnership with Revetas Capital since January 2018, she is a graduate of Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, Poland and holds a master’s degree in Law and has 13 years of experience in the legal domain previously working for the international law firm DLA Piper

Estonia-based Bidrento, a start-up company that automates the management of rental properties, has secured €800,000 in a follow-up funding round to speed up the expansion to Poland.

Liberty Technology Park is one of the first technological parks in Romania, currently hosting a vibrant IT ecosystem. The 17,000 sqm office compound has been acquired by White Star Real Estate and its partners in 2019, planning to create a true mixed-use project, harmoniously blending the existing business community with new complementary areas. The first phase will include two residential buildings, currently under construction, followed by a separate building designed for a kindergarten and three office buildings, with generous retail spaces on the ground floor. Real estate consultancy company Griffes will oversee the commercial and leasing strategy of the project. 

The first two warehouses of industrial real estate developer HelloParks have become 100 percent occupied over a few months. The Maglód and Fót developments, which opened earlier this year, are the first industrial buildings in Hungary to meet the sustainability requirements of the Excellent certificate in the BREEAM New Construction category. In addition to Maglód and Fót, HelloParks’ megapark in Páty is also being developed at full capacity. The nearly two-year-old company plans to deliver two more projects in 2022. As a result, the total gross leasable area offered by the HelloParks megaparks in the county will be increased to 160,000 sqm by the end of this year representing a total investment value of €190 million.

The boundary between online and offline shopping is becoming increasingly vague. There is an evident retail trade trend toward the omnichannel, i.e. combining various sales channels tailored to the consumer's individual needs. This requires the development of e-commerce which has significantly accelerated recently. In the last 5 years, the share of online sales in Central and Eastern Europe grew by 9 pps to 15%, and in 4 years' time is bound to amount to 20%, according to CBRE's forecasts. Poland and Czechia are leaders in terms of online shopping growth in the region. E-commerce's market share in these countries in 2026 may be as high as almost a quarter.

Following the completion of the mandatory offer by CPI Property Group in relation to S Immo, the Supervisory Board and the acting Chairman of the Management Board, Dr. Bruno Ettenauer, have mutually agreed that Mr. Ettenauer's Management Board contract terminated at the end of 6 September 2022.

Grzegorz Kawecki, Vice-President of the Management Board, Marvipol Development talked to Property Forum about the current slowdown in the Polish residential market, interest of the PRS investment funds and the forecasts for the rental sector.