Another excellent year for the investment market, record office lease transactions in Warsaw and the burgeoning growth of alternative asset classes - these are some of the Polish commercial property market highlights of 2019. Savills forecasts that next year the market’s performance will depend on the health of the global economy, and key developments will include the completion of spectacular office towers and mixed-use projects.

Retail developer Apsys Polska has started preparing its first residential project, which will be built in Warsaw’s Mokotów area in a joint venture with an undisclosed partner.

Echo Investment has received a building permit to start the first two office buildings at Fuzja. Thus, the developer has begun the next stage of the revitalization of the postindustrial part of Łódź. The developer, at the site of the former Karol Scheibler factory, will construct two office buildings with completion scheduled for 2020.

Triholding Group has acquired a historical building in downtown Budapest. Alexander Court, which has an NLA of 1,000 sqm, can be transformed into a modern office building or a hotel.

CBRE advised flexible space provider Regus in the opening of its 12th centre at Sun Business Center project, located within Sun Plaza shopping centre. The decision of Regus responds to the demand for flexible spaces from companies in the northern half of the city, in order to provide an alternative for the employees living in the southern area, their share being estimated at 50% of the total staff.

Irish clothing chain Primark‘s long-anticipated market entry into Slovakia has been confirmed as the company has signed a lease agreement with Eurovea. At the same time, the shopping centre has announced that it reached 70% occupancy in the forthcoming extension. Cushman & Wakefield facilitated the transaction.

S Immo Hungary closed a major deal by selling one of its Budapest office buildings. The transaction was conducted after a longer negotiation period. Twin Office Center was part of the company’s portfolio for 14 years, operating with 100% occupancy. Neither the name of the buyer nor the transaction price has been disclosed.

Local investor DRFG, through its Czech Real Estate Investment Fund, has acquired the Olomouc CITY shopping centre from Mint Investments. With this acquisition, DRFG manages the first primarily leisure-oriented property in its portfolio.

Trei Real Estate GmbH, a property developer and property asset holder of residential and retail real estate with activities across Europe, develops its sixth retail park of the Vendo Park brand in the Czech Republic. The property is located in the small town of Mnichovo Hradiste, which lies around one hour’s drive north-east of Prague. The total investment costs add up to €2.6 million and the completion is scheduled for Q2 2020. The company plans to keep the asset in its portfolio long-term.

Invest4SEE has sold the second phase of the Invest4SEE Industrial Park Dubnica to REICO’s ČS nemovitostní fond for around €9.5 million. CBRE represented Invest4SEE in the negotiations.