AEW has sold the Smíchov Gate office building in Prague 5 after almost ten years of ownership on behalf of one of the funds managed by AEW. The new owner is Redside, manager of real estate open-ended investment fund NOVA Real Estate (SICAV). Cushman & Wakefield facilitated the sale of the property.

CA Immo has completed negotiations with Union Investment Real Estate GmbH on acquiring 49% of shares each in the office buildings Danube House in Prague and Building A of Infopark in Budapest, both so far part of the open-ended property fund UniImmo: Europe. The deal, which has already been closed, will make an immediate positive contribution to long-term profitability by around €3 million.

CPI Property Group anticipates the acquisition of a retail portfolio located in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Romania from funds managed by CBRE Global Investors. If completed, this can become the largest real estate deal of the region in 2017.

CBRE Global Investors has acquired, on behalf of a separate account client, Prague’s Letňany Shopping Centre from Tesco. The value of the transaction has not been disclosed.

In 2016, new supply totalled 497,000 sqm on the Czech industrial market and at the end of the year a further 426,600 sqm of storage and industrial space was under construction. Prime headline rents achieved in the Czech Republic remained stable during Q4 2016 and currently stand at €4.25 sqm/month. The Industrial Research Forum has published its preliminary industrial market figures for Q2 2016.

According to JLL’s review of last year, the Czech industrial market has exceeded the 6 million sqm mark in 2016 which makes it – along with the Polish one – one of the most advanced markets in CEE. 2016 gross-take up on the Czech industrial market totalled 1.2 million sqm which makes it one of the best years on record after the similarly successful years such of 2014 and 2015. Due to strong constant demand, the national average vacancy rate declined to 4%, which is the decade´s low and one of the lowest indicators in the market history. 

Aviva Investors and LaSalle Investment Management have acquired River Garden II & III in Prague, on behalf of the Pan-European Fund Encore+ for €84 million. River Garden II & III, developed by HB Reavis is Class A office building with ground floor retail, located in the Karlin district of Prague. This is the first acquisition that Encore+ has made in the Czech Republic.

Arcona Capital has entered into a long-term lease agreement with Knorr-Bremse Group to lease a total of 2,700 square meters of office space in the administrative building in the city centre of Liberec. The building will then be fully occupied. Arcona Capital, manager of property portfolios in Central Europe, owns nearly 60 commercial properties in the Czech Republic.

Strong demand across all investment sectors is expected to continue into 2017 in the Czech Republic and the €3 billion boundary could be exceeded once again. Retail is likely to become the most popular asset class next year, followed by offices and industrial. CBRE has released the Czech Republic Real Estate Market Outlook 2017.

Blackstone has sold the Hilton Prague Old Town hotel and Gestin Centrum, an adjacent 6,900 sqm mixed use commercial building, to Singapore-based real estate investment group M&L Hospitality. JLL’s Hotels & Hospitality group advised Blackstone on the sale.