Sofia has experienced steady growth in its industrial space market during the first half of 2023. With a total stock of over 4.0 million sqm of ready-to-use space and an additional 252,000 sqm under construction, the city is witnessing an upward trend. These findings are part of the latest industrial report, issued by the real estate company MBL. 

Exyte Technology will lease 12,600 sqm at VGP Park Ústí nad Labem City as a new tenant. There will be 3 halls in total within the VGP Park, one will be finished this year, and the other two are being prepared.

Regesta, a specialist provider of road transport, forwarding and logistics services, has renewed its lease for more than 17,000 sqm of warehouse, office and social space in Park Tychy DC1. The tenant was represented during the lease negotiations by Newmark Polska.

Panattoni is beginning the construction of City Logistics Kraków Airport II, a speculative project worth €34 million. It will be located near Balice Airport - the second-largest airport in the country.

Subcarpathia continues to gain importance and is likely to become a leading east-west transshipment hub supporting the rebuilding of Ukraine. Its potential has also been recognized by industrial developers who are building warehouses and securing land for future projects in the region, say Michał Kozar, Senior Associate, and Janusz Dudek, Senior Advisor, Industrial and Warehouse Department, Newmark Polska.

New multinational companies are leasing warehouses in Upper Silesia while taking advantage of comprehensive logistics services. Developers have secured plots of land in the region and will launch new projects once they pre-let 30-50% of the floorspace of a building as part of meeting banks’ lending requirements. According to the latest market data, Upper Silesia is the fastest-growing region, say Michał Kozar, Senior Associate, and Janusz Dudek, Senior Advisor, Industrial and Warehouse Department, Newmark Polska.

P3 Logistic Parks has commenced the development of another speculative warehouse with an area of 28,292 sqm at P3 Poznań, a warehouse park offering a total area of over 385,000 sqm. When expansion work is complete, P3 Poznań will cover a total area of 415,000 sqm, making it one of the largest logistics parks in Poland.

Panattoni has been granted a €27.5 million loan by Berlin Hyp to finance a distribution centre in Zakroczym developed for Action. The centre, which is to supply 160 stores from the chain and employ around 300 people, was constructed as a BTS (built-to-suit) development.

Since the second half of 2022, Savills has seen an increase in demand from manufacturing companies for modern warehouse space in the Czech Republic, accounting for 57% of the total space leased in the first quarter of 2023. One of the reasons why demand from this sector is growing is "nearshoring", i.e., the shift of production from Asia back to Europe. During Covid-19, demand was significantly driven by the e-commerce sector, which at its peak in Q3 2021, accounted for up to 62%. However, over the last three quarters, e-commerce activity has declined significantly and, as of Q1 2023, is now at 6%. Given uncertain energy supply and costs, and thanks to government support of renewable energy, demand from this sector is also growing significantly.

Panattoni has already delivered almost 170,000 sqm of industrial space around Zielona Góra in three different parks. Space has now been rented by ECE Logistics in one of these projects within the administrative capital of the Lubuski region. The company is to use the centre to run logistics operations for an e-commerce client from where it is to serve markets in Central and Western Europe. The tenant was represented by real estate consultancy BNP Paribas Real Estate.