Horizon (formerly Horizon Plaza), a Class A office complex in Warsaw’s Mokotów-Służewiec district, is going through an overall rebranding process conducted by global real estate services firm Cushman & Wakefield. Union Investment, the property owner, decided to rename the office building, redesign its visual identity and landscape, introduce a new signage system in common areas and launch a new showroom. In spring 2020, more greenery, new tenant amenities and landscape elements will be added in the areas around and near the building.

Benson Elliot, a UK-based private equity real estate fund manager, acting on behalf of its pan-European fund, Benson Elliot Real Estate Partners V L.P. has acquired Marynarska Business Park (MBP), an office complex in Warsaw, from a fund managed by Heitman Real Estate. The price paid was c. €65 million.

Sapient Vest, a company controlled by Slovakia’s Slovunit AS, is planning to develop a logistics park in Timișoara. Sagului Logistic Center will spread over 400,000 sqm on Calea Sagului, economica.net reports.

Due to the uncertainty surrounding the coronavirus situation Property Forum has decided to reschedule its spring events – Bratislava Property Forum, SEE Property Forum and Prague Property Forum – to autumn 2020.

406,000 sqm of retail space was handed over on the Polish market in 2019. The development pipeline currently stands at approximately 500,000 sqm, 85% of which is scheduled for opening by the end of 2020. Going forward, investors’ interest will increasingly shift towards smaller cities below 100,000 inhabitants. Cushman & Wakefield has summarized the Polish retail market.

Kinstellar has successfully advised its client, Ideal Projects (a joint venture between the Vetimex and Mirus groups) on the successful negotiation, signing, closing and refinancing of the Cluj-based Vivido, Advancity, and Cube office projects. This is the largest office acquisition outside Bucharest in Romania this year, with a total value exceeding €30 million.

The Arete investment and real estate group announced the opening of its third qualified investor fund, based in the Czech Republic and operating under the supervision of the Czech National Bank. This third fund is to follow on from the successful history of the preceding funds, with the first fund having been closed three years ago and investors paid off with a total gross appreciation of 120%, while the second fund has fulfilled its strategy with its current gross appreciation of over 90%. The new Arete fund will both invest into completed industrial real estate in Central and Eastern Europe and also itself construct new logistics and manufacturing buildings. Its portfolio target value should approach €500 million during the anticipated six-year investment cycle.

Allianz announced its intention to combine the strengths of PIMCO, one of the world’s premier fixed income investment managers, and Allianz Real Estate, the captive real estate specialist with more than €70 billion of assets under management. This organic move is proposed to strengthen its Alternatives capability by creating one of the world’s most preeminent real estate managers. It will manage over €100 billion in core, value-add and opportunistic real estate across Europe, the US and the Asia-Pacific Region.

The maturity of the industrial real estate sector in Poland’s five largest markets does not necessarily mean limited investment opportunities for developers and tenants. The importance of smaller markets has been growing recently in Poland, which gives the possibility to expand into locations that were previously out of developers’ and tenants’ interests, according to JLL.

CBS International, part of the Cushman & Wakefield Group, has been assigned to provide facility management services for the Blue Center office building in New Belgrade by owner Bluehouse Capital.