Robert Pitt has joined CTP Invest as the group COO, effective as of December 1st, 2017. Mr. Pitt will assist in setting up processes to efficiently help structure how the company operates, thus preparing CTP for the further growth needed to achieve its ambitious goals. His main focus will be HR, IT, Legal, Controlling and Construction/Design/Permitting/Procurement.

Czech online retail giant Alza has leased a 22,000 sqm warehouse at P3 Prague D8 park as increasing sales volumes put pressure on its existing logistics centres around Prague in the Holešovice District and at P3 Prague Horní Počernice park. Alza will move into the specially adapted facility – which will feature a mezzanine storage system that has the capacity to almost quadruple the total floorspace – in January (2018). Both of Alza's existing logistics centres are equipped with technology to ensure that the company can meet its delivery time promises – particularly useful during the hectic pre-Christmas season.

Representatives of the BMW Group, the Czech government and the Karlovy Vary region announced construction of a new proving ground. The roughly 500-hectare property will be developed in Sokolov in the Karlovy Vary region, close to the German border town of Waldsassen and about two-and-a-half hours’ drive from the BMW Group’s main development site, the Research and Development Centre (FIZ), in Munich. The new BMW Group proving ground, which will create several hundred jobs, is slated to go into operation early in the next decade. Total investment will be in the three-digit million-euro range.

A Slovak private equity group has disposed of a 6,800 sqm hypermarket in Liptovský Mikuláš with an exceptionally long lease with Tesco to a Czech private investor, Cushman & Wakefield announced on Twitter.

A huge increase in urban logistics property space is required across key centers in Europe in the next few years to meet the exponential growth of e-commerce and the resultant need for last mile delivery in cities, according to a new research report from Cushman & Wakefield.

CPI Property Group acquired three hotel properties in the Czech Republic and Hungary: a historical building in Český Krumlov, an existing hotel in Olomouc and an office building adjacent to a hotel in Budapest.

CPI Property Group has begun work on the Mayhouse office building, offering 7700 square metres of modern office space from the first half of 2019. The building fills a vacant plot in the Prague district of Pankrác with views to Prague Castle.

2017 has not ended yet, but it is safe to say that it has been a record year for the CEE property market. The period of strong growth is not over yet, market sentiment is positive and all signs point to 2018 bringing new opportunities for expansion in the property business. In times like these it is especially important to find the time to share knowledge and make new connections, which is why Property Forum will continue to provide a meeting point for the CEE property industry. In 2018 Property Forum events will be held in Bratislava, Bucharest, Prague, Vienna and – for the first time – in Warsaw.

JLL´s Czech Supply Chain Activity Index marks further strong growth in Q3 2017, supporting continued robust occupier demand. The Index rose by 1.1% in Q3 2017, significantly above its long-term trend. As such, it maintained the strong growth patterns seen over the past three quarters.

Arcona Property Fund, listed on the Amsterdam Stock Exchange, announced the successful closing of the sale last week of one of the properties in its Prague portfolio. The buyer of the functionalist administrative building on Drahobejlova Street in Prague 9 is the Czech Medical Chamber (ČLK), which has long been looking for a new building for its Prague representative office.