The Polish industrial market just closed its best start to the year to date with demand hitting around 1.1 million sqm. Furthermore, 1.8 million sqm of warehouse space is currently under construction. JLL summarised the condition of the industrial and warehouse market in Poland at the end of Q1 2018.

The rapid growth of e-commerce is changing the way warehouses are being built. In many BTS buildings, automated or semi-automated racking systems and robots are deployed for product storage and picking, says Krzysztof Czekalski, Technical Director in the Industrial & Warehouse Department at Cresa.

Echo Investment is launching a joint venture with a company controlled by an unnamed investor. Resi4Rent is the first fully integrated investor, operator and asset manager for purpose-built residential communities in Poland. With more than 1,200 apartments under construction and another 1,700 apartments ready for construction in the next 12 months, Resi4Rent will be the largest residential for rent platform in Poland. The first tenants will be able to move in during the fourth quarter of 2019.

Hansainvest Real Assets GmbH intends to significantly expand its logistics property portfolio. Logistics assets with a volume of €200-300 million will be acquired by the end of 2019. The acquisitions will be concentrated on the core markets of Germany, Benelux and the United Kingdom. Selected properties may also be acquired in France, the Nordics, Spain and Poland. A total of between six and eight properties will be acquired.

JLL and the city of Warsaw will begin a cooperation to establish a development strategy for downtown trade, highlighting places with the greatest potential for creating new shopping locations as well as increasing the attractiveness of high streets for both potential tenants and customers. JLL already has a similar experience in this field - experts from the company are responsible for management of the Regent Street in London.

In terms of size, Łódź is currently the sixth largest regional office market in Poland. Investors are attracted by the city's extensive pool of specialists and an increasingly strong business brand. Experts from JLL indicate that the increasing maturity of the Łódź office market is contributing to the development of state-of-the-art office clusters in the city.

Globalworth Real Estate Investment Limited in partnership with BT Capital Partners, a company of Banca Transilvania Financial Group, announced the second admission to trading on the Bucharest Stock Exchange (BVB) of the corporate bonds issued by the company, with a total value of €550 million.

MLP Group launches construction of a city logistics type warehouses with module areas of 1600 and 3200 square meters in Dąbrówka near Poznań. In total, more than 86,700 square meters is available for the lessees, out of which 10,000 square meters will be built this year as speculative space. The project is developed on the site of the MLP Poznań West park, which is located near the S11 road, A2 highway, next to the newly-opened S5 road and in a very close vicinity of the Airport.

Automation and digitisation penetrating all spheres of life also have a material impact on the economy. Experts of Cushman & Wakefield have identified five key factors that will shape the retail and warehouse market growth going forward.

Panattoni Europe has announced investments worth €1.2 billion in city logistics projects – facilities built within city limits dedicated to the so-called “last mile”. Already today in Poland, four such parks are under development, totalling €65 million in value, and the most recent development – City Logistics Warsaw has already secured its first tenant. It is Frisco.pl – the online supermarket. In the space of 3 years, the developer will systematically pursue successive markets, including Germany, the United Kingdom and the Czech Republic.