According to “Occupier Economics: Office Market in Łódź in 2017”, the latest report produced by Cresa, last year’s absorption rate for office buildings in Łódź hit a record high of 55,500 sqm. With office stock at 437,770 sqm, Łódź is Poland’s sixth largest regional office market. The city’s vacancy rate currently stands at 9.3% (up by 3.1 p.p. year-on-year).

Union Investment has acquired the Park Inn by Radisson Krakow, which opened in 2009. The transfer of rights and obligations with regard to the property is scheduled to take place by the end of May 2018. The 152-room hotel is located south of the Vistula river, close to the city centre and in the immediate vicinity of the modern ICE Congress Centre, where around 200 events are held every year. The vendor is a joint venture between subsidiaries of UBM Development AG and Lindorcenia Ltd. The Radisson Hotel Group manages the hotel and provides the brand name. The hotel is let on a long-term lease. The purchase price is approximately €26 million. Union Investment is acquiring the property for an institutional real estate fund.

The Focus Estate Fund has acquired Park Handlowy Eden (Galeria Eden), Zgorzelec (Poland). Focus intends to invest more than €1.5 million in repositioning the 8,500 sqm retail centre with the support of its partner in development and leasing, Młyn Retail Parks Sp. z o.o.

Savills has set up China Desk, a special section within its Warsaw-based Corporate Finance & Valuation department, dedicated to Chinese investors interested in the Polish commercial real estate market.

Skanska has sold the Green2Day building in Wroclaw, Poland, to the real estate fund manager Niam. It is the developer’s fifth office project in the city with its sixth – Nowy Targ – currently under construction.

Łódź is busy readying itself for an influx of new companies. The city is investing in its road and transport infrastructure as well as revitalizing some of the city's quarters. As a result, Łódź is attracting more investors.These include companies from the rapidly expanding business services sector which are fuelling the expansion of Łódź's office market. New office clusters are being developed throughout the city. In 2018, the city will gain another 45,000 sqm of modern space. However, the business services sector is not the only sector that is powering the city’s economy, according to JLL.

Galeria Mazovia, a retail asset located in Płock, Poland and owned by the CBRE European Shopping Centre Fund (ESCF), has obtained a BREEAM (Building Research Establishment Assessment Method) rating of ‘Excellent’ in tests conducted in February 2018.

Golub GetHouse has embarked on the construction of a student residence in Kraków. Unibep S.A. is the general contractor for the investment, which involves renovating the former Telpod factory and adapting it for the needs of modern, high-standard university accommodations. The industrial interiors will contain 290 functional housing units with various layouts – for one, two, three or four persons, offering a total of over 700 beds. Golub GetHouse is implementing the project in partnership with Chicago’s CA Ventures International, a company specializing in student housing construction in North and South America. The investment is financed from Golub GetHouse’s real estate fund.

Atrium European Real Estate Limited announces its results for 2017. The company is focusing on owning quality assets in well-connected, strong, urban locations in the region's largest and strongest economies. 20 smaller assets were sold during 2017 and early 2018 for €80 million, with the effective exit from Hungary and the Czech portfolio rotation completed.

By the end of 2017, total retail stock in the Warsaw agglomeration amounted to 1.76 million sqm, of which shopping centres accounted for 1.2 million sqm. Other formats include retail parks (276,000 sqm), standalone retail objects (212,000 sqm) and outlet centres (57,000 sqm). Approximately 85,000 sqm of space was delivered to the Warsaw retail market last year with the largest completed object being Galeria Północna (64,000 sqm). Furthermore, the saturation level in the shopping centre format totalled 472 sqm / 1,000 inhabitants and was the third lowest rate among the eight major metropolitan areas nationwide. JLL summarised 2017 on the retail market in the Warsaw agglomeration.