Skanska’s commercial development business unit in Central Eastern Europe will be the first developer worldwide to cover office buildings with semi-transparent perovskite solar cells on a commercial scale. Saule Technologies will be the technology provider. The initial implementation tests are planned for 2018 in Poland.

pbb Deutsche Pfandbriefbank provided an investment facility of €41.4 million to companies owned by a professional private real estate investor and managed by development and investment company Amesbury s.r.o. The funds will be used to refinance the Zlicin and Chrastany business parks near Prague. Thereby pbb extended the maturity of its financing by another five years. The transaction closed in December 2017.

Colliers REMS Hungary has been assigned by Skanska for the role of property manager for Mill Park Offices, from 2018. Mill Park is Skanska’s latest office project in Budapest, consisting of two buildings, Mill Park A and Mill Park B, with a total GLA of 36,000 sqm, divided over 7 floors and 538 parking places. Building B will be delivered in Q2 2018, while building A in Q3 2018.

Last year, in a landmark deal, CPI Property Group has acquired 11 CEE retail assets from funds managed by CBRE Global Investors. Country Manager Mátyás Gereben talked to us about the company’s future plans for Hungary and revealed what’s in store for the five assets – shopping centres Pólus and Campona, the Andrássy Complex and two Interpsar stores – that were added to CPI’s Hungarian portfolio as a result of the €650 million deal.

MCAP Global Finance, the London-based subsidiary of global investment manager Marathon Asset Management, has acquired the Népliget Center office building in Budapest on behalf of its funds and managed accounts. The transaction price has not been disclosed. The buyer was advised by Lodge & Partners, which will oversee the local asset management of the building.

From its handover in January 2018, Cushman & Wakefield has been assigned with the property management of the 15,647 sqm Váci Greens D office building developed by Atenor.

Microsoft has launched a tender to consolidate its Bucharest offices in a new location. The company is looking for 20,000 sqm of modern office space and is willing to pay around €3 million a year for rent, zf.ro reports citing market sources.

Skanska invests €50 million in the second phase of Generation Park, an office project located in Warsaw, Poland. The second building, with a total leasable area of about 18,300 square meters, will comprise 16 stories above ground and two stories of underground parking. The investment will also include four underground parking levels for the planned third building.

Catalyst Capital, a European real estate investment and fund management firm, has bought Nobilis Business House from Echo Investment for €44 million. The building, located on Marii Skłodowskiej-Curie Street in Wrocław, was completed in late 2016.

In 2017 the large number of office projects delivered across Poland filled up quickly as occupier demand remained robust. Traditional drivers of demand were joined by emerging trends that are shaping the future of the office market and commercial real estate as a whole. Bolesław Kołodziejczyk, Phd, Head of Research & Advisory at Cresa Poland analysed the Polish office market.