After completion of the second part of the construction in Panattoni Park Cheb, Tchibo has opened an expanded distribution centre for its e-shop. The rentable space increased from 39,000 sqm to 73,000 sqm. This means that in Cheb has grown the second largest logistics hall in the Czech Republic and Tchibo’s largest distribution centre in Central and Eastern Europe. Operations of the first part of the building were commenced on 2 December last year and the site these days just dispatched its millionth parcel.

P3 is constructing a new 61,000 sqm building at P3 Piotrków park in Central Poland. Its main tenant will be Kuehne + Nagel, which will occupy 56,000 sqm of space. The facility is scheduled for completion in January 2018.

Panattoni Europe has embarked on the project to build the central warehouse for the building and home design retail chain, OBI. The BTS facility with close to 50,700 sqm will be delivered near Łódź, in the Nowosolna commune. Its development has been divided into two stages – with the first one scheduled for completion in November 2017.

The industrial real estate market in Hungary hit the vacancy rate of 5.5% in the first half of 2017, which is the lowest number on record since it has been measured by the Budapest Research Forum (BRF). In total, less than 73,000 sqm space is currently vacant in the Budapest metropolitan area of the 1.95 million sqm total modern logistics area, and only four Class A buildings can offer more than 5,000 sqm contiguous warehouse space. The lack of available space is due to the strong absorption of the last few years, and at the same time there are still limited number of speculative projects in progress or have building permits, says Tamás Beck, Director of Industrial Agency at Colliers International Hungary.

In the first half of 2017 the warehouse market was unquestionably the fastest growing commercial property sector in Poland. The highest volume of industrial and warehouse space was delivered to the market around Poznań, i.e. 133,000 sqm, while the largest scheme of 161,000 sqm is currently under construction in Szczecin. The record numbers in respect of the schemes delivered to the market are not discouraging developers from commencing new projects.

Prologis has secured a 146,500 square metre lease with Tesco Stores Slovakia at Prologis Park Galanta-Gáň. The transaction includes 55,000 square metre new lease of a recently completed build-to-suit facility and a 91,500 square metre lease renewal.

1.72 million sqm of industrial space was leased in Poland in H1 2017 which is the best result in market history. Net take-up totalled 1.3 million sqm which is the third best result in Europe. Total demand is likely to be 3 million sqm by the end of 2017.JLL summarised H1 2017 on Poland's industrial market.

In H1 2017, the supply of industrial space stood at almost 793,000 sqm and as a result the total stock in Poland exceeded 12 million sqm. It was over 10% more than in H1 2016 when the level of supply amounted to 659,000 sqm, according to the latest report by Colliers International. 

Gross take-up on the Romanian industrial market grew by 54% in H1 2017, compared with the same period of 2016, to 350,000 sqm. According to JLL Romania, the total demand for industrial space reached 180,000 sqm in the second quarter, a comparable level with the one registered in the first quarter of this year.

Net take-up on the Czech industrial market in Q2 2017 totalled 231,200 sqm, representing a yearly decrease of 11%. The vacancy rate reached 4.1%, having decreased marginally by 6 bps since Q1 2017. The Industrial Research Forum announced the industrial market figures for Q2 2017.