The Turawa Park shopping centre near Opole, Poland has received a building permit to proceed with the expansion. The upcoming stage of this project will incorporate an extra 10,000 square meters, expanding the total retail area of the shopping centre to 36,000 square meters.

Retail developer Scallier has attracted Stay Fit Gym as tenant in its retail parks based in Romania. As part of the agreement covering 6,256 sqm, six fitness clubs under the Stay Fit brand will be opened in the retail projects operated by Scallier. The first retail park is slated to open in a retail park in Moșnița in the upcoming months.

Investors' interest in the construction of retail parks in Serbia has not been declining for several years now. Investors are mostly focused on building new facilities in secondary and tertiary locations. As much as 14% of the total offer of retail parks in Serbia is located in the region of central Serbia. The Šumadija region is attracting more and more attention, so the company Peštan announced the opening of a new retail park in 2025 - Arandjelovac Retail Park. 

At the country level, the share of retail parks in modern retail stock is constantly growing, at the end of H1 2023 claiming 39% of the market, according to a CBRE report. 

AFI Europe has completed the construction of its first retail park developed in Romania, located in the city center of Arad, with its inauguration scheduled for November 1. 

Cushman & Wakefield has released a summary of retail market conditions in Poland. Approximately 200,000 sqm is likely to be added to the market by the end of this year. Most of that total will be delivered in retail parks that account for 77% of the development pipeline, which will be consistent with the trend seen in recent years. Rental rates are on an upward year-on-year trajectory while the average vacancy rate in the largest Polish cities has dipped by 1.2 pp year-on-year. 

NEPI Rockcastle has officially opened its €136 million Promenada Craiova shopping centre in central southern Romania. 

SES is refurbishing the King Cross shopping centre in Zagreb, Croatia which it has owned and managed since 2018. Construction work to completely refurbish the centre will begin in 2024 following an investment of approximately €40 million. Completion is scheduled for autumn 2025.

Kaufland intends to significantly reduce CO2 emissions in the future in the construction of new stores. Therefore, the retailer is currently testing various alternatives to materials such as concrete and steel at pilot locations. In Bratislava, the company is opening the largest timber store in Slovakia. In Tuttlingen, Baden-Württemberg, a store is being built using recycled building materials including items such as walls, the facade, and the parking lot.

According to the latest data from Cushman & Wakefield, the average retail vacancy rate in Poland’s largest cities currently stands at 3.5%, down by 1.2 pp year-on-year. More importantly, falls were recorded in six out of the eight largest cities, with the availability of retail space at the lowest in Kraków, Łódź and Szczecin. This suggests a gradual retail recovery in Poland, says Cushman & Wakefield. Meanwhile, as the market continues to stabilize, retail landlords should increasingly turn their focus onto diversifying their offer.