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.

The Czech Republic saw investment in real estate tail off slightly in the third quarter to €450 million, but following a strong start to the first half of 2017 when €2.25 billion worth of transactions were closed, total cumulative investment volumes had reached €2.67 billion by the end of September, according to Colliers International.

CBRE Global Investors have been one of the most active buyers on the CEE investment market recently. Having closed the off-market acquisition of a logistics/light industrial portfolio in the Czech Republic, Robert Snincak, Head of Investment Operations CEE talked to Property Forum about CBRE Global Investors’ investment strategy for the region.

LaSalle Investment Management has acquired Palác Andel in Prague from Aberdeen Asset Management Deutschland, the German subsidiary of Aberdeen Standard Investments. This mixed-use scheme in the Prague district of Smíchov–Andel is the first Czech Republic asset for LaSalle E-REGI fund. The total purchase price reached €57.8 million. Cushman & Wakefield and Clifford Chance represented the seller. White & Case, JLL, TPA represented the buyer.

RICS presented its new Board of Members in the Czech Republic, who will operate under the chairmanship of William Bucknell MRICS, Managing Director of Flow East Real Estate, one of the largest private investors in the Czech Republic.

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).

The outlook for Central and Eastern European markets is still positive according to the RICS Commercial Property Monitor. Results for Q3 2017 show that both occupier and investment demand are still on the rise across the region. The peak of the current cycle is, however, undoubtedly getting closer.

Although demand slightly decreased on the Prague office market in Q3 2017, the vacancy rate further declined to its current level of 7.7%, JLL reports.

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.

On behalf of one of its investor clients, Redevco, a pan-European retail real estate investment manager, has acquired the neo-renaissance and secession-style City Palais building in the heart of Prague. The retail property was purchased for more than €40 million from a group of private investors.