In a video interview recorded at CEE Property Forum 2025 in Vienna, Pál Forgács, Managing Director of the Emonika project in Ljubljana, discusses leasing expectations for 2026 and explains why Slovenia’s largest-ever development had to be designed as a mixed-use scheme.
What are your expectations for 2026 in terms of leasing?
Emonika is the largest development ever undertaken in Slovenia. It comprises approximately 190,000 sqm and is a mixed-use project, including around 187 apartments, two hotels and two office buildings, located on two separate plots.
The project is progressing very well. It won the tender after the city had been waiting for it for nearly 20 years, and construction is now underway. Leasing is advancing positively, and apartment sales are also going well. Around 50 percent of the apartments have already been sold.
We have secured operators for both hotels, and one of the office buildings will become the new headquarters of OTP locally. In retail, we have already secured several major tenants. Overall, the outlook for leasing in 2026 is strong.
What made you decide to turn this project into a mixed-use one?
In our case, there was really no alternative. This is a very large development for the city, and it could not be dedicated to a single use.
Introducing a new, downtown Class A office building is something the city has not seen before, but we had to be careful not to oversupply the market. The same applies to hotels. With two hotels already included, adding more would not have been appropriate.
Retail in Ljubljana is already well represented, so even adding new downtown retail space needs to be carefully balanced. Given these factors, a mixed-use concept was the only viable solution. It allows us to create a balanced development that meets the city’s needs without oversaturating any individual segment.
