Hungarian investment and property management company Indotek Group has launched 16 energy efficiency projects with a total worth of €1.4 million (HUF 500 million) to modernize its shopping centres and office buildings.

Last year, the Activity Start indicator of EBI Construction Activity Report reached a total of more than €7 billion (HUF 2,500 billion), an increase of almost 18% against 2020 and of more than 6% against 2019.

More than half of the 1.24 million sqm of office space leased in 2021 was located in Warsaw. Renegotiations accounted for nearly 45% of the total transaction volume.  However, the main regional cities now account for three times more square metreage under construction than the capital city.

Opened in September 2021, the Norblin Factory is filling up with tenants. The project’s investor, the Capital Park Group, has signed lease contracts with another six concepts which will soon join the revitalised complex at Żelazna Street. The office space of the multifunctional building was already fully leased last year.

Heimstaden continues to invest in its portfolio in the Czech Republic. This year it will spend almost two and a half billion crowns on thermal insulation, new projects and repairs, the company announced.

Earlier this week, Prague Mayor Zdeněk Hřib and Warsaw Mayor Rafał Trzaskowski visited the Ukrainian capital and invited Kyiv to join the Pact of Free Cities. Founded in 2019 by the mayors of Bratislava, Budapest, Warsaw, and Prague, the pact aims to strengthen the values of freedom, dignity, democracy, and the rule of law.

Development margins in Poland have been under pressure in recent years which is taking effect in a smaller number of projects under construction with planned occupancy dates in 2022 and 2023. Property Forum talked to Mariusz Frąckiewicz, Country Director at Avestus Real Estate Poland about the post-Covid office market in Poland, the impact of inflation and surging land prices.

The largest new residential district in the Czech Republic, which will be built on a brownfield site, is starting construction in Prague 3 in Žižkov. It could house up to over 5,000 people. The planned investment is estimated at CZK 20 billion. According to the plans of the developer Central Group, the first inhabitants could move in as early as 2024. The entire Park District should be completed within ten years, the developer plans.

Panattoni will develop a third building for Media Expert within the Central European Logistics Hub in Łódź. At the end of January this year, the owner of the store chain was granted early access to the 80,000 sqm centre, which is to be combined with two other existing buildings to form a national distribution complex for Media Expert. All three buildings have a combined area of 233,000 sqm. As well as these buildings in the administrative capital of the region, the chain has also leased 23,000 sqm in Panattoni Park Stryków III.

White Star Logistics, a joint venture between White Star Real Estate and Bain Capital Credit, is commencing the development of a 55,000 sqm logistics center in Raszyn. Within the investment, whose commercialization began at the beginning of the year, three buildings will be constructed in stages.