With around 122,000 sqm of new industrial space under development in Romania, WDP is seeing growing demand across its entire portfolio. Property Forum talked to Gijs Klomp, Business Development Manager at WDP Romania, about the new demand drivers and the investment potential in areas where infrastructure development is accelerating.

Polish warehouse developer MLP Group signed 48 contracts last year to lease a total of nearly 300,000 sqm of warehouse space, approximately 50% more than in the preceding year. The property portfolio managed by MLP Group has already exceeded 1 million sqm, with a further 2 million sqm under development.

According to Savills, the e-commerce boom is continuing to drive demand for industrial and logistics assets across Europe, as new records were set for both levels of investment and leasing activity in 2021. In Poland, take-up in 2021 reached an all-time high and industrial assets accounted for over a half of the total investment volume.

Panattoni is developing its fourth park in Bydgoszcz. The new complex will eventually comprise three buildings with a total area of more than 110,000 sqm. One is to be entirely occupied by Belma Accessories Systems, a Polish company owned by the Kurkus Holding capital group.

The warehouse and logistics space sector in Poland maintained its high growth rate in 2021. The results included, among others, record amounts of new space delivered to the market, a record number of square metres under construction, as well as a record demand. Summing up last year, experts from BNP Paribas Real Estate Poland highlight the influence of e-commerce on the situation of the whole sector, the increasing interest of logisticians, developers and investors in ecological issues. They also point out the bottlenecks such as rising construction costs, difficulties in materials supply, limited land availability and increasing shortage of qualified workers.

LogStar, the industrial division of local investor Biggeorge Property, has acquired the WestGate Business Park, an 18,000 sqm industrial facility, from Logicor. The seller was represented by CBRE. The price of the transaction was not disclosed.

After delivering 400,000 sqm of warehouse space in 2021, 7R continues to pursue its expansion strategy with 800,000 sqm currently under construction throughout Poland. In Upper Silesia, the company is developing a number of projects including a production and warehouse facility at 7R City Park Katowice I, which will deliver over 49,600 sqm to the market. The project will be ready in Q4 2022.

White Star Logistics, a joint venture between White Star Real Estate and Bain Capital Credit, is commencing the development of a 55,000 sqm logistics center in Raszyn. Within the investment, whose commercialization began at the beginning of the year, three buildings will be constructed in stages. 

The fourth quarter was one of the best in recent history, with property deals in Romania at €342 million, compared to €40 million in the same period of last year, according to real estate consultancy Colliers. The overall investment transactions volumes edged close to €900 million, which is roughly similar to the result of 2020. 

Colliers advised Bosch Termotechnika s.r.o., an international manufacturer of heating and hot water heating equipment, in the sale of its industrial manufacturing facility in Město Albrechtice, located in the Moravian-Silesian Region in the Czech Republic close to the Polish border.