Developers and real estate investors completed land acquisitions with a cumulative value of around €245 million last year in Bucharest, a new record for the past ten years, according to the Cushman & Wakefield Echinox which has monitored 31 medium and large transactions.

Hungarian developer Wing has announced the acquisition of several buildings in Budapest’s Infopark office complex. The seller was Lone Star Funds – Hudson Global Advisors.

Morgan Stanley Real Estate Romania is reportedly considering the acquisition of the Hermes Business Campus office project in Northern Bucharest, according to zf.ro.

United Business Center 2 (UBC 2) in Timișoara was awarded a LEED Gold certification. UBC 2 adds up to 18,000 sqm leasable area and was opened in early 2017. The building is a part of the Openville Timișoara mixed-use project currently developed by Iulius and Atterbury Europe in the vicinity of Iulius Mall.

In the second half of last year, gross take-up decreased in the two largest regional office markets of the Czech Republic. The Regional Research forum announced the Brno and Ostrava office market figures for H2 2018. 

Plaza Centers has signed a pre-agreement for the sale of a plot in Brasov, Romania for a total gross amount of €620,000 which is slightly above the last reported book value.

Cushman & Wakefield Echinox has strengthened its Capital Markets team by promoting Alexandru Mitrache as Head of Transactions - Land & Investment.

In 2018, Echo Investment signed lease agreements for a total office area of nearly 80,000 sqm. This year also seems to be busy - the company plans to start construction of approximately 100,000 sqm of offices including in Warsaw, Wrocław, Łódź and Kraków. Projects with a total area of 150,000 sqm are being prepared.

Last year’s demand for office space on Poland’s markets was 1.5 million sqm. 744,000 sqm of office space was delivered to market while a further 1.6 million sqm is under construction, according to JLL’s report.

KD Adriatic Value Fund, Special Investment Fund, the first regulated real estate alternative investment fund (AIF) in Slovenia, managed by KD Funds in partnership with Peakside Capital, has finalised the acquisition of the Austria Trend Hotel in Ljubljana. This transaction represents the fourth commercial real estate acquisition in Slovenia by the KD Adriatic Value Fund, with the first acquisition completed in April 2018.