The Iulius Company commences the construction works for the fourth office building of the total six to be included in the Openville Timişoara mixed-use development. Spanning on a 155 m height and 27 floors, United Business Center 0 (UBC 0) will be the tallest office building in Romania. The Openville project is currently under construction in the proximity of Iulius Mall Timişoara and, owing to the 130,000 sqm of office premises it will create, it hopes to become the main business hub in the west of Romania.

GTC continues its growth strategy and further expands its portfolio in Sofia. The developer and asset manager purchased Mall of Sofia, a prime shopping centre and office tower in Sofia’s Central Business District, seizing opportunity in the growing economy in Bulgaria. The property was formerly owned by Europa Capital.

So far in 2018 CBRE won the management of further 10 properties (industrial and shopping centres and an office building) in Budapest. The Budapest office now manages a 600,000 sqm portfolio in Hungary.

After the excellent results recorded in 2017, Warsaw's office market continued performing well in Q1 2018. Vacancy rates are decreasing while demand stands at 202,000 sqm. 770,000 sqm of office space is under construction. There is also a growing demand for flexible space, and state-of-the-art technological solutions. JLL summarised the situation on the Warsaw office market at the end of Q1 2018.

Gross take-up (including renegotiations and subleases) on the Prague office market in the first quarter of 2018 amounted to 85,700 sqm, representing a decrease of 51% compared to the previous quarter and a decrease of 19% in year-on-year comparison. The Prague Research Forum announced the office market figures for Q1 2018.

The construction of the €40.4 million (HRK 300 million) Matrix Office Park in Zagreb, Polish real estate developer GTC’s newest project in Croatia, will be completed by 2019, local media reports.

Warimpex Finanz- und Beteiligungs AG announced the purchase of the B52 Office building in Budapest for an undisclosed price. The transaction was signed on 20 April 2018 and will be closed before the end of the second quarter. The seller is CCE Investment Kft., the investment arm of the prominent real estate investor and development company ConvergenCE.

JLL has been selected by Immofinanz as the property manager of the Park Postępu office complex in Warsaw. JLL took over management of the building on 1st April 2018.

Tenant requirements have changed significantly which means that offices need to be maintained at the highest quality in order to retain the workforce. Panellists discussed the future of the office market at the Portfolio FM & Office 2018 conference that was held in Budapest last week.

JLL helped with the sale of an office building in Chodov, Prague. The project on Roztylská with an area of over 9,000 sqm was sold at the purchase price of €9.47 million (CZK 240 million). The seller was PSN and the buyer was Vinton Development s.r.o. It is the largest transaction ever provided by S&MI (Small & Medium Investments) department under the leadership of Pavol Bak.