Colliers International has expanded its partnership with the promotion of five new Partners. Laurențiu Duică (Head of Industrial Agency), Simina Niculiță (Head of Retail Agency), Sebastian Dragomir (Head of Office Advisory), Raluca Buciuc (Head of Valuation Services) and Octavian Trofin (Head of Operations) have all been named Partners, effective November 1st. The heads of the five departments join Laurențiu Lazăr, Managing Partner, and Ștefania Baldovinescu, Senior Partner at Colliers International Romania.

Building H, the recently handed-over eighth component of the Bonarka for Business (B4B) project of TriGranit in Kraków, reached an occupancy rate of 60%. This Class A building, with an overall rental area of approx. 10,000 sqm, was handed over for use in April this year, simultaneously becoming the new office of, among others, the Aterima company, a long-time B4B tenant. Due to the large demand in Kraków for Class-A offices, TriGranit plans to construct two more buildings in the office complex (I and J), with a rental area of approx. 10,000 sqm each.

Sales numbers for new housing units in Warsaw in the first three quarters of 2019 amounted to 17,500, which was an increase of 7% y-o-y. In 7 out of 18 districts in the capital, the average prices of units on offer exceeded €2,500 (PLN 11,000) per sqm, according to JLL.

CTP has significantly expanded its portfolio both across the region and in Hungary in recent years. In response to brisk local demand, the company plans to prepare speculative developments of premium industrial space totalling 150,000 sqm in the Hungarian market in 2020. These projects will affect nearly all the industrial parks of local CTP.

The Romanian real estate market continued to show a positive evolution, and in the third quarter of 2019, the positive trend applied to all three leasing sectors, according to CBRE Research data. In the first nine months of the year, approximately 290,000 sqm were leased on the office segment, the main source of the demand being the IT&C companies and the financial industry, while on the retail market a number of 11 new brands chose to enter in Romania, among which Victoria's Secret and Burger King, advised by CBRE.

Apsys has refinanced the Centrum Posnania retail asset with a 10-years maturity, €300 million senior loan from Allianz - completed by Allianz Real Estate on behalf of several Allianz companies - and that it now owns 100% of the 100,000 sqm property in Poznan, Poland.

KG Group SA and Peakside Capital have teamed up to develop a new outlet centre in Kraków. ROS Retail Outlet Shopping has been selected as the manager of the Cracovia Outlet project with a wide range of fashion & lifestyle products. The construction of the centre will start soon and the opening is planned for autumn 2021.

Multi Hungary announced its extensive refurbishment plans for Allee shopping centre in Buda, in the most densely populated district of Budapest. Multi will upgrade and renovate the 46,700 sqm shopping centre, while enhancing the tenant mix, interior and exterior design and customer services. Multi will start the execution phase in the second quarter of 2020 and expects to complete most of the work still in 2020.

One of the region’s most active investment managers, Griffin Real Estate has ambitious plans to further expand its portfolio in several market segments, potentially outside of Poland as well. Stanislav Frnka, the company’s Senior Partner has talked to Property Forum at Expo Real about Griffin’s investment strategy and the asset classes they’re exploring.

According to the new CEE research from Colliers International, which looks at entertainment sector in 13 CEE countries, the leisure offer in shopping centres is dominated by multiplex cinemas and fitness clubs, but there are also other concepts that are being added to the mix. Czech consumers spend the most on recreation and culture, the average is €38.23/month. Key findings of the report include the following.