Prologis has begun construction of a new 28,300 square metre speculative facility at Prologis Park Prague-Uzice in the Czech Republic. It will be the third building at fully occupied park and is scheduled to be completed by mid-2018.

At ca. €12.98 billion, 2017 recorded a 3.3% increase over 2016 (€12.56 billion) and, for the second year running, set a new record transaction volume for the CEE region. JLL has registered continued appetite from investors for the full range of assets across the entire region.

In 2017, investments in the Czech Republic totalled €3,274 million as indicated by a Cushman & Wakefield report. Contrary to expectations, they declined only slightly compared with 2016, which was a record year. The biggest transactions in 2017 included the sale of Olympia Brno, the CBRE GI portfolio (Nisa Liberec, Zlatý Anděl and Olympia Plzeň), Metropole Zličín and of the Letňany shopping centre.

ZFP Investments, the Czech-based subsidiary of Slovak IAD Investments, has concluded the acquisition of the Kotlarska 11 office building in Kraków on behalf of ZFP Real Estate Fund. This marks the investor’s entry into the Polish market.

CPI Property Group announced the appointment of Mr. David Greenbaum to the role of the company’s Chief Financial Officer.

pbb Deutsche Pfandbriefbank provided an investment facility of €41.4 million to companies owned by a professional private real estate investor and managed by development and investment company Amesbury s.r.o. The funds will be used to refinance the Zlicin and Chrastany business parks near Prague. Thereby pbb extended the maturity of its financing by another five years. The transaction closed in December 2017.

P3 has acquired a second logistics park near Lovosice, in the Ústí region of the Czech Republic, from HB Reavis. The new park, to be known as P3 Lovosice Cargo, comprises a single 43,500 sqm warehouse which is fully let to a long-term occupier and houses all of its business operations, including offices. P3 Lovosice Cargo has a direct rail link to the nearby international rail freight container terminal. Its accessibility is further enhanced by connections to Exits 45 and 48 on the recently opened D8 motorway.

Czech online retailer alza.cz has opened a new self-service concept store at Prague’s Flora metro station. The retailer has branded the new concept ‘the store of the future’. The store, which is able to serve 1,000 costumers daily, operates with no staff and offers 24-hour accessibility.

CTPark Bor has been expanded by a multi-functional service centre. The aim of this centre is not only to provide an office space for the tenants of CTPark Bor, but also to be attentive to their personal needs. The building includes a restaurant, a mini market and a medical professional. CTP is also drafting plans for a space with games and an area for athletic activity.

YIT has sold housing projects in Prague, the Czech Republic and in Bratislava, Slovakia to YCE Housing I fund. The value of the projects is approximately €50 million, and the sales are recorded in the last quarter of the year.