Focus Estate Fund investment fund acquired Most Retail Park located in Most, Czech Republic, comprising 6,471 sqm of retail space. This is Focus Estate's third investment in European commercial real estate. The investment fund previously bought Ostrava Retail Park (Ostrava, Czech Republic) and Galeria Sandomierz (Sandomierz, Poland).
The seller of the property, TK Development (Denmark) was represented by Dentons. The buy side was backed by Kocián Šolc Balaštík (KSB) and BDO and the funding was partly obtained from Raiffeisen Bank.
“This is our first asset with a relatively high vacancy rate. Hence we have a challenge to reconceptualise and improve the property in order to increase the profit margin to 12-15%. First of all we need to increase visual and physical accessibility from the adjacent traffic routes and magnets of the area. We are in coordination with the town's mayor's office and the works are already underway. Our key focus is to increase the customer flows and turnovers of the tenants”, said Maxim Shkolnick, Partner at Focus Estate Fund.
“We’ve recently entered into the partnership with Focus Estate Fund to lease Most Retail Park and we are already in negotiations with well-known lessees. We have reasons to be optimistic since we have successfully worked with major brands all around Czech Republic and believe that the new property management and leasing strategy in Most Retail Park would establish a sustainable leasing and shopping demand”, added Ing. Martin Kubín, Senior Consultant, Retail Warehousing at Cushman &Wakefield:
Most Retail Park is located on the outskirts of Most, a town with 67,000 inhabitants, some 40 km away from Czech-German border. Opened in 2009, Most Retail Park offers 6,471 sqm of commercial space (GLA) and 175 parking spots. Main tenants include Sportisimo, Venator, Auto Kelly, Breno, Cyklo World, Pet Shop, Phase.
Focus Estate Fund is a real estate investment fund focusing on non-prime retail properties in Central and Eastern Europe. The Fund’s strategy is to invest in the existing mid-scale commercial properties in the most dynamic European markets. The Fund plans to build a €50 million asset portfolio during the next 2-3 years.
