Pandemic-related economic and social restrictions have given rise to multiple questions on the office market. Will the demand for office space remain unabated? Will office projects underway be delivered on time? Cresa has reviewed pre-let levels and the progress of office projects currently under construction in Warsaw.

Hungarian development and construction company Market Építő Zrt. has completed its new headquarters in Budapest. The 5,500 sqm four-story office building was designed and built by Market and its subsidiaries. The office building, named Market 6.0, refers to the group's sixth headquarters and is located in Budapest’s Óbuda district, in the immediate vicinity of the previous headquarters.

Colliers expects that a fair amount of market activity in 2020 will come from lease renegotiations and renewals as opposed to new and pre-lease transactions and that we might record more sub-leases being offered if companies need to downsize. Tenant covenants will receive additional scrutiny by landlords, banks and investors in order to limit risk to a sustainable income. Colliers launched the ExCEEding Borders Office Snapshot for the 14 CEE capital cities and summarised the key Q1 2020 market results with year on year comparison.

The PZU Group has leased 47,000 sqm of office, retail, service and warehouse space, as well as 325 parking spaces in Generation Park Y – Skanska’s highest office building in CEE located in Warsaw. With this lease, the building is now 98.5 percent occupied. The PZU Group will move its headquarters to the new office in Q2 2022. This is the largest lease agreement in the history of the office market in Poland and the history of the Skanska Group in the world.

Israeli-owned real estate developer Hagag Development Europe has received the urban planning certificate for the restoration of Știrbei Palace in Bucharest which will be converted into a modern office building.  

Westbridge Advisory International AG, the international entity of operating cost optimizer Westbridge Advisory, has converted a portfolio of six office buildings for Union Investment in Poland to green electricity. By bundling the entire supply with a single utility and the switch of the entire portfolio to green electricity, it was possible to reduce CO2-emissions by roughly 7,600 tons. The properties, located in Warsaw, Wroclaw and Poznan, have a total rental area of around 155,000 sqm and an aggregated annual electricity consumption of 25 gigawatt-hours.

Cain International, a privately held real estate investment firm operating in Europe and the United States, and its local development partner, White Star Real Estate, have started work on The Park Kraków.

Tenants are to move into the EQ2 office building, developed by Waryński Group, in Q1 2021. The office building has already reached its target heigh, and the completion of construction work has been celebrated with a symbolic topping off ceremony. Walter Herz is responsible for the commercialization of the project

Belgian developer Atenor announced the launch of BakerStreet, its fourth project in Budapest. Atenor acquired a 5,711 sqm plot of land located at 18 Hengermalom Road in district XI of Budapest in July 2019 in order to develop a new Class A+ green office project of nearly 18,000 sqm.

With the ease of travel restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, companies begin to resume their activity in the headquarters located in office buildings, but with only 40% of employees in a first phase, according to a survey of Cushman & Wakefield Echinox.