The Polish retail market witnessed a large number of interesting developments throughout 2017. Magdalena Sadal, Head of Retail Research and Advisory at Cresa Poland presented an outlook for 2018.

Panattoni Europe is to build a distribution and online store service centre for SMYK. The facility, which will feature 70,000 sqm at full build-out, will be erected at the Panattoni Central European Logistics Hub in Łódź. The investment will be launched in early January and will proceed in a number of phases. The first 26,000 sqm is scheduled for commissioning in June 2018. The lease transaction was mediated by JLL.Panattoni Europe is to build a distribution and online store service centre for SMYK. The facility, which will feature 70,000 sqm at full build-out, will be erected at the Panattoni Central European Logistics Hub in Łódź. The investment will be launched in early January and will proceed in a number of phases. The first 26,000 sqm is scheduled for commissioning in June 2018. The lease transaction was mediated by JLL.

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.

Blackstone Property Partners Europe Lower Fund 2 plans to acquire 24 logistics centres from Goodman. The buyer intends to buy assets and shares in several companies which own properties in Poland, France and Germany.

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.

Carrefour opened a new hypermarket in Warsaw. Its customers will be able to take advantage of its digital solutions, as well as range of new commercial concepts, including m-commerce type services, a restaurant right in the heart of the store and a line of checkouts that is not quite what they'll be expecting.

Globalworth provided an update on a number of initiatives completed prior to year-end: the acquisition of two land plots in Bucharest, an increase in its shareholding in Griffin Premium RE and the completion of the EPP deal.

Spaces, a global concept from the Netherlands and offering solutions from the area of flexible workplaces and co-working, has leased 4,200 sqm of office space in Centrum Marszałkowska. As a consequence, Warsaw will become the brand’s first location in Poland. Experts from JLL advised Spaces on the process of negotiating lease terms. Baker & McKenzie supported the company in all legal aspects. The developer of Centrum Marszałkowska - BBI Development - was represented by CBRE and Markowska - Materla law firm.

Berlin Hyp and Erste Group Bank have jointly provided Immofinanz a five year secured loan in the amount of €205 million. The syndicate is providing Immofinanz a “one stop” portfolio-refinancing for their office portfolio in Warsaw and is thus replacing seven existing, individual real estate loans. Agent for this transaction is Berlin Hyp.