The first year of the pandemic brought many lessons for all entrepreneurs and business executives. With plans and expectations upside down, many companies have had to adapt to new realities, regardless of the field. One of the big winners of the crisis was retail park operators that now plan heavy expansion in the coming years. Property Forum takes a look at Romania’s retail park pipeline.

Etele Plaza has obtained its occupancy permit which means tenants can start building their new stores in the largest shopping centre in the Buda side of Budapest. Developed by Futureal, with an investment value of €300 million and a leasable area of 55,000 square meters, the environmentally friendly building will open its doors in September 2021.

Optim Project Management has completed its work on the new 6,715 sqm ibis Timișoara City Center for Hotel Development SA, a company owned by brothers Emil and Marius Cristescu.

Polish company Scallier has announced that 70% of available space has been leased in its first retail park under the Funshop Park brand in Romania.

The first tenant in the building with a potential area of up to 45,700 sqm is DHL. The global logistics operator will thus expand its activities in Accolade’s parks by another 20,500 sqm. The first part of the building will be handed over in June. The new €31 million project will not just meet all standards for BREEAM Very Good certificate.  

There were 14,569 residential property deals made in Hungary in February 2021, according to the latest monthly transaction estimate by real estate group Duna House. This marks the highest transaction number of the past ten years. This many homes have not changed owners in a month since early 2011.

Lidl Serbia plans to start the construction of a new, 60,000 sqm logistics canter in Lapovo, a city located approximately halfway between Belgrade and Nis on the A1 highway, in the coming months, local media reports.

There were no new completions on Zagreb’s retail market in H2 2020 but a number of brands have opened new stores, according to a market report by Cushman & Wakefield | CBS International Croatia.

According to Knight Frank’s The Wealth Report 2021 released today, private capital has been undeterred by the COVID-19 pandemic and has continued to invest in commercial real estate around the world. The volume of private capital invested globally was circa $232 billion - 9% above the ten-year average, albeit down on 2019 levels.

Romania Sotheby’s International Realty announced revenue growth of 127% in 2020. Sotheby’s International Realty entered the Romanian market in July 2020 through the association with Artmark Historical Estate, a company founded in 2014 and which belonged to the Artmark group.