AEW has sold the Smíchov Gate office building in Prague 5 after almost ten years of ownership on behalf of one of the funds managed by AEW. The new owner is Redside, manager of real estate open-ended investment fund NOVA Real Estate (SICAV). Cushman & Wakefield facilitated the sale of the property.

Cushman & Wakefield has been responsible for the audit of the Sienna Center office complex and obtaining a BREEAM IN-USE International 2015 certificate for the scheme. The office complex received a “Very Good” rating in Asset Performance and an “Excellent” rating in Building Management. The scheme is owned by CA Immo.

Nearly 100,000 sqm of new office space was delivered to the Budapest market in 2016, the highest figure since 2010. Meanwhile, demand picked up in the last quarter of the year with a large share of the total leasing volume made up of pre-leases and new transactions. At the same time, the office vacancy rate has returned to its downward trajectory, reaching 9.5%, the lowest rate on record.

CA Immo has completed negotiations with Union Investment Real Estate GmbH on acquiring 49% of shares each in the office buildings Danube House in Prague and Building A of Infopark in Budapest, both so far part of the open-ended property fund UniImmo: Europe. The deal, which has already been closed, will make an immediate positive contribution to long-term profitability by around €3 million.

Skanska invests €38 million in the first phase of Campus 6, an office complex in Bucharest, Romania. The first phase will offer a total leasable area of about 22,000 square meters on 11 stories above ground and two levels of underground parking.

EPAM, an international company which is involved in the development of software and implementation of IT projects, has leased an office area of nearly 3,500 sqm in O3 Business Campus which is being developed by Echo Investment in Kraków. CBRE advised EPAM in the leasing process.

TriGranit appointed the Hungarian office of CBRE with the exclusive leasing of its latest development in Budapest. The Millennium Gardens office building is being constructed alongside the Palace of Arts and the National Theatre, on the Danube side of Soroksári Road. It will offer 37,000 sqm of leasable space and it is expected to be completed by 2019. 

ZF TRW, a global automotive supplier, has selected Symetris Business Park – developed by Echo Investment – as the location for its new electronics engineering centre in Łódź. The company has leased nearly 2,400 sqm of space. JLL advised ZF TRW on the process of selecting the new space.

Aberdeen Asset Management Deutschland AG has signed an agreement to sell the Construdava office building in Bucharest to AdamAmerica, the advisor of the seller, Colliers International reported.

HB Reavis announced that construction has commenced on Varso Place, its flagship development in Warsaw’s city centre. Plans for the 140,000 sqm mixed-use scheme include one of Europe’s tallest towers and two mid-rise buildings. Completion is scheduled for 2020.