Ikea has started the construction of its second store in Romania, which will be finished in H2 2018 following an investment of approximately €86 million, which includes the acquisition of the land.

CBRE has been given a new mandate for the management of a retail, office and residential building in Wenceslas Square in Prague, where Van Graaf department store is the majority tenant. The change of the building manager occurred as part of its sale. The new owner is a fund managed by BMO Real Estate Partners, part of the Bank of Montreal.

TK Development has received the construction permit for building Outlet Arena Moravia. It will rise in the vicinity of the centre of Ostrava, lying immediately adjacent to the D1 Motorway, on a vacant lot in Hlucinska Street (in the proximity of two traffic arteries, with approximately 60,000 vehicles passing every day).

Soaring rents have seen London’s New Bond Street rise to become the world’s third most expensive retail street, while New York’s Upper 5th Avenue and Hong Kong’s Causeway Bay retain their first and second place rankings, according to Cushman & Wakefield. Prague’s Na Příkopě Street has improved its position from last year’s 23rd to the current 22nd in a chart of the 68 most expensive high streets.

The leasing department of Echo Investment finalised the lease of the last unit just before the opening of an extended part of Galaxy in Szczecin. Echo Investment is responsible for the construction and lease of the facility for EPP which is the owner and manager of Galaxy.

Granit Polus Group has signed a credit agreement of €335 million with a syndicate of Erste Group Bank AG, Erste Bank Hungary Zrt., UniCredit Bank Hungary Zrt., UniCredit SpA and K&H Bank Zrt. in order to refinance existing loans and provide a capex credit line for WestEnd City Center.

The total floorspace in shopping centres across Europe increased by 1.17 million sqm to 160.8 million sqm at the midpoint of 2017, according to Cushman & Wakefield. Since the beginning of 2017, a total of 57,850 sqm of new shopping centre space has been completed in the Czech Republic. The figure includes the extension of IGY České Budějovice by 9,250 sqm, an extension of the Chodov Centre by 35,000 sqm and the newly built Central Jablonec with a floor space of 13,600 sqm. This represents a 67% growth over the previous year. However, the market will deliver markedly less shopping centre space next year. According to current information, just one shopping centre will be completed – the Géčko in Ostrava. By contrast, several major projects will open after 2019.

The developer of Bucharest’s Veranda mall will begin work on expanding it one year after inauguration, zf.ro reports.

Redefine Properties is to expand its Polish property platform with the acquisition of a strategic 25% stake in a €1 billion retail portfolio of 28 assets in Poland. Redefine is co-investing with Pimco and Oaktree Capital Management who will each have 37.5% of the portfolio which is being acquired. Key locations in the portfolio stretch from Warsaw to growing regions across the country like Krakow and Silesia.

In Q3 the modern retail market in Poland grew by nearly 140,000 sqm of GLA. This is a significant increase as compared to the first half of the year when only a mere 26,000 sqm of GLA within 5 schemes were completed. Notably, the first IKEA store was delivered in Lublin with the residents of Poland’s eastern regions in mind. According to BNP Paribas Real Estate Poland, the end of the year is set to bring more than 200,000 of GLA sqm in new retail projects.