Cain International, a privately held real estate investment firm operating in Europe and the United States, and its local development partner, White Star Real Estate, have started construction on PZO, an 18,000 sqm mixed-use scheme in Warsaw’s Praga district on the site of the former Polskie Zakłady Optyki factory.

Colliers International Poland has published the results of the Office Agency in the Landlord Representation division. In 2019, Colliers advisors rented a total of over 118,000 sqm of office space. This result is nearly 40% higher than in 2018 (88,106 sqm) and 260% higher compared to 2017 (32,824 sqm).

HB Reavis has secured a €162 million loan from a consortium of four banks – Santander Bank Polska, Bank Pekao S.A., PKO Bank Polski S.A. and BNP Paribas Bank Polska S.A. – for the construction of its 78,000 sqm Forrest office campus in Warsaw.  

Reino Capital, a Luxembourg-based fund and Australia's RF CorVal signed a preliminary agreement to buy BUMA Group’s real estate portfolio as part of a larger deal. The portfolio consists of 10 office properties with over 110,000 sqm GLA plus a land bank with capacity for office projects totalling more than 80,000 sqm GLA and residential projects with over 100,000 sqm of usable area.

Speedwell has mandated Knight Frank to sell the office buildings and sports centre of Record Park, a mixed-use project (office, sports centre & residential) situated in central Cluj-Napoca (next to Dedeman’s The Office). The sales mandate includes three separate buildings: two office buildings - a new Class A office building next to a renovated historic building of the former imperial stables - and a new stand-alone sports centre with a pool.

Office take-up in Prague has been slowly decreasing since 2017, cooling down further last year. Companies relocate or expand less often and increasingly more of them prefer to stay in their current location. Compared with earlier years, the share of major transactions in excess of 3,000 sqm was lower last year. The situation is not dramatic, however, as area absorption remains relatively high. This development can affect rents, though – their current amount will become untenable. By contrast, Brno saw a record-breaking increase in take-up and a strong share of major transactions last year, with rent amounts increasing as well, according to Cushman & Wakefield’s report.

A new record level of modern industrial, office and retail projects is expected to be delivered in 2020, as developers announced projects of over 1.2 million square meters, according to the latest Bucharest City Report published by JLL.

Romanian developer Forte Partners has acquired a 9,300 sqm land plot of on Expozitiei Boulevard in Northern Bucharest, Ziarul Financiar reported.

Local investors continue to dominate the Czech property market as new family offices, private wealth and retail funds continue to establish and expand. Colliers International published its Q4 2019 investment, industrial and office market overview of the Czech Republic.

Kraków has nearly doubled its office stock over the last four years, becoming the largest and fastest-growing regional city office market in Poland, according to a new report by Savills.