At the end of 2018, the total office stock of Katowice, Poland’s fifth largest office market, stood at 519,300 sqm. Last year’s new supply amounted to 50,800 sqm (+218% y/y) delivered across ten office projects, the biggest completions being .KTW (18,200 sqm), Silesia Business Park IV (10,700 sqm) and GPP Business Park IV – Bloch (7,500 sqm). Another 52,000 sqm of office space is expected to be constructed at seven new office schemes in the coming 12 months, according to Cushman & Wakefield.

Skanska has sold Buildings C and D of the Silesia Business Park, a four-building office complex in Katowice. The buyer is ISOC Group, a diversified real estate and infrastructure investment group, based in Manila, Philippines. This is Skanska’s first CEE office divestment transaction to a Philippine investor. With the sale of buildings C and D, the developer has now sold all four properties in the Silesia Business Park complex. Buildings A and B were divested in 2015 to a Swedish investor.

A milestone has been reached on the way to the completion of Building H, the 8th element of Bonarka for Business (B4B) office complexes in Krakow. The construction reached its highest point on the 16th of October, according to the construction schedule. TriGranit is preparing the further phases of the development, Building I and J with 10,000 sqm GLA each.

Excavators have entered the construction site of the office building Face2Face Business Campus located in Katowice. The new project of Echo Investment will offer 21,000 sqm of space.

Globalworth provided an update on a number of initiatives completed prior to year-end: the acquisition of two land plots in Bucharest, an increase in its shareholding in Griffin Premium RE and the completion of the EPP deal.

The Rezidor Hotel Group announced the recent signings of six new hotels – expanding its momentum growth in capitals and primary strategic locations in Poland, Cameroon, Georgia, Saudi Arabia and Lebanon

The MLP Group has allocated land for the construction of a new distribution center for MAKRO Polska to be built in the MLP Czeladź logistics park. It is anticipated that the construction will be complete and the finished warehouses will be handed over to the tenant in June 2018.

ECE and Allianz have opened the new, comprehensively modernised food court of the shopping centre located in the Polish city of Katowice. During an extensive refurbishment period, the modernized food court of the centre received a new design with modern furniture and a better quality of stay. The refurbishment and modernization was conducted during ongoing operations in the centre in a construction time of approximately five months. All in all the owners invested €2 million into the modernization.

Echo Investment has concluded a contract with Bank Zachodni WBK S.A. as an agent as well as Bank BGŻ BNP Paribas S.A. concerning a loan of over €67.5 million and a VAT loan of PLN 12 mln. The funds will be used for the construction of Galeria Libero in Katowice.

Over time, some office locations enhance their position in the eyes of tenants while others – lose popularity. The reason for this change usually results from communication infrastructure as its development can create new business regions. JLL has taken a closer look at tenants’ preferences regarding office locations on major Polish markets based on concluded lease agreements. The company focused solely on new deals – excluding renewals of already existing contracts and expansions – signed in Warsaw (in 2012 and 2016), and Kraków, Wrocław, Tri-City, Katowice, Poznań and Łódź (in 2011 and 2016).