According to Yasen Georgiev from EPI, EECFA Bulgaria, like elsewhere in the EECFA countries that are not directly impacted by the war in Ukraine, the construction market in Bulgaria entered a period of an increasing unpredictability. What stands behind is an interplay between domestic and external factors.

Belgian real estate fund manager Mitiska REIM and Polish developer Karuzela Holding have opened a retail park in Puławy following the conversion of a former Tesco hypermarket on the site.

Paris-based asset manager Paref Gestion, on behalf of its SCPI Interpierre Europe Centrale fund, has acquired the Browar Lubicz office complex in Kraków from Balmoral Properties for an undisclosed sum.

In one of the largest transactions on the Warsaw office market in recent months, HB Reavis has leased 18 floors (30,000 sqm) in the Forest skyscraper to Bank Pekao. The second-largest bank in Poland will become the main tenant of the building. 

The city of Ljubljana is expected to see some major urban change by 2025. As it was announced last month, a huge mixed-use project will be built next to the city’s planned new transportation hub, including a hotel, a shopping centre, offices and apartments. The Emonika project, which has a long history, will be developed by Mendota Invest, owned by Hungary’s OTP Real Estate Investment Fund. Property Forum summarised what we know about the project so far and how it could potentially transform Slovenia’s small and illiquid commercial real estate market.

Vastint Poland has received an occupancy permit for the K2 project in Gdynia. The office building, with a leasable area of ​​11,400 sqm, was built on Kielecka Street. It was designed to meet the criteria of the LEED environmental certification. C.Hartwig Gdynia S.A., the leading freight forwarder, will be the first tenant to move into the building in September 2022.

The first quarter of the year was another very demanding time for the regional office markets. They have been confronted with exactly the same challenges as Warsaw’s office market – increasing maintenance costs, higher rents’ perspective, more expensive and longer fit-outs as well as delayed construction processes. The future boon may be the emigration of Russian specialists from high-skilled technology industries, including IT, who fill in the talent pool in the regional cities, which are hubs for the IT Products and Services sector.

Macquarie Asset Management, on behalf of its Macquarie European Logistics Real Estate Fund, has agreed to acquire for an undisclosed sum a logistics and warehousing facility currently under development near Warsaw. The seller is Logistic Property Investment, which is owned by the Żabka Group and managed by the Żabka Property Fund.

Romanian developer Studium Green has purchased a property portfolio from Immobiliare Italo Romena, a subsidiary of former Italian lender Veneto Banca, for an undisclosed sum. 

The war launched by Russia on February 24th is still going on in Ukraine. Infrastructure facilities are being damaged every day. The cost of damages that experts share changes daily. According to the Centre for Economic Policy Research, the total expenses for reconstruction will range from $220 billion to $540 billion, writes Anna Nestulia, Principal at Invest in Projects for Property Forum.