Although development activity was muted in Katowice throughout 2019, there is now more than 210,000 sqm of office space under construction across 13 projects. Cushman & Wakefield summarised the past year on Katowice’s office market.

Cushman & Wakefield Echinox has been commissioned to manage Mendeleev Office 5, an office building recently delivered in downtown Bucharest, by Akcent Development.

Horizon (formerly Horizon Plaza), a Class A office complex in Warsaw’s Mokotów-Służewiec district, is going through an overall rebranding process conducted by global real estate services firm Cushman & Wakefield. Union Investment, the property owner, decided to rename the office building, redesign its visual identity and landscape, introduce a new signage system in common areas and launch a new showroom. In spring 2020, more greenery, new tenant amenities and landscape elements will be added in the areas around and near the building.

CBS International, part of the Cushman & Wakefield Group, has been assigned to provide facility management services for the Blue Center office building in New Belgrade by owner Bluehouse Capital.

Skanska Property Poland has commissioned Apleona HSG Facility Management Poland with hard services for buildings 4 and 5 of the High5ive office property in Krakow. The agreed country-specific open-ended contract includes both assets supervision and complex maintenance service of all technical building systems with 24-hour emergency support.

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 construction on PZO, an 18,000 sqm mixed-use scheme in Warsaw’s Praga district on the site of the former Polskie Zakłady Optyki factory.

Colliers International Poland has published the results of the Office Agency in the Landlord Representation division. In 2019, Colliers advisors rented a total of over 118,000 sqm of office space. This result is nearly 40% higher than in 2018 (88,106 sqm) and 260% higher compared to 2017 (32,824 sqm).

HB Reavis has secured a €162 million loan from a consortium of four banks – Santander Bank Polska, Bank Pekao S.A., PKO Bank Polski S.A. and BNP Paribas Bank Polska S.A. – for the construction of its 78,000 sqm Forrest office campus in Warsaw.  

Office take-up in Prague has been slowly decreasing since 2017, cooling down further last year. Companies relocate or expand less often and increasingly more of them prefer to stay in their current location. Compared with earlier years, the share of major transactions in excess of 3,000 sqm was lower last year. The situation is not dramatic, however, as area absorption remains relatively high. This development can affect rents, though – their current amount will become untenable. By contrast, Brno saw a record-breaking increase in take-up and a strong share of major transactions last year, with rent amounts increasing as well, according to Cushman & Wakefield’s report.

Kraków has nearly doubled its office stock over the last four years, becoming the largest and fastest-growing regional city office market in Poland, according to a new report by Savills.