Arco Real Property Holdings, a joint venture between Arco Capital and Deutsche Asset Management's DB Private Equity & Private Markets group, has decided to develop and construct a new office building in Business Park Sofia (BPS). The investment volume for this new building will be around €30 million.

TriGranit, celebrating its 20th anniversary in business in 2017, will this year launch its newest development in Budapest, the Millennium Gardens office building that will provide 37,000 sqm GLA for future tenants from H2 2019 on the banks of the Danube, next to MÜPA and the prospective Congress Centre. In 2017, the company also plans to start the development of Building H, the eighth building in its office complex in Krakow, Bonarka for Business (B4B), providing 10,000 sqm GLA, and plans to start the second phase of Lakeside Park in Slovakia with 13,000 sqm GLA. 

All segments of the Hungarian commercial property market have shown signs of strong growth over the last couple of years. Developers embark on a record number of new projects, but most of them soon realise that construction will take more time and be a lot more costly than they initially anticipated. The latest Tea & Talk session, organised by RICS Hungary in Budapest, helped us understand how rising construction costs and labour shortage in construction can be tackled.

This spring the Iulius Company will start the construction works for three new Class A office buildings within the Openville Timişoara mixed-use project, located in the vicinity of Iulius Mall. The three buildings to be developed under the United Business Center (UBC) brand add up to a total area of 73,000 sqm and shall be ready to use within a 12 to 18 months’ term.

Panattoni Europe announced the completion of an investment for Sanden Manufacturing Poland. The facility features close to 6,5000 sqm of warehouse space and was built in Polkowice, next to the existing manufacturing plant. The lease was signed for 12 years.

Cushman & Wakefield has been selected to act as property manager for the Grójecka Offices building currently under construction in Warsaw’s Ochota district. The new office building located at 206 Grójecka street will comprise 7 400 sqm of Class A office space and it will be completed in Q2 2017.

Panattoni Europe is developing a fifth logistics centre for Amazon. The new facility featuring 135,000 sqm is being built in Sosnowiec in the region of Upper Silesia. Completion of the project is planned for October 2017.

CTP broke ground on its first Polish development in the city of Opole. Initially a 13,000 sqm facility will be built for a long-term client, International Automotive Components.  With additional land available, the park has a planned built-up area of nearly 71,000 sqm.

Skanska Property Czech Republic is expanding its portfolio by completing the acquisition of a plot with a former car repair shop from M2 Real Estate Group, located in the Karlín area of Prague. Skanska plans to build a modern office building called Praga Studios on the property.

Occupier and investment sentiment continues to be positive across Central and Eastern Europe according to the RICS Commercial Property Monitor for Q4 2016. Hungary and the Czech Republic remain the most upbeat markets, with Bulgaria and Croatia also gaining momentum. In Romania the pace of growth seems to be slowing down, although sentiment and projections continue to be broadly positive.