pbb Deutsche Pfandbriefbank (pbb) and Helaba have jointly underwritten an investment facility, totalling €130 million to refinance “Dock In Office Park” (4 buildings) in Prague for Crestyl Group. pbb and Helaba are acting as joint lead arrangers providing equal portions of the funding. pbb also acted as facility and security agent of the transaction.

Local residential developer JRD is entering the commercial segment. The company plans to build its first office project, Viadukt Anděl in Prague 5.

Ikea extended its lease contract at Segro Logistics Park Prague in the vicinity of the Václav Havel Airport. It will continue leasing the warehouse space totalling almost 12,500 sqm in the building it uses as a goods pick-up warehouse for its customers. The lease transaction was assisted by Cushman & Wakefield.

According to the latest Savills research, at figures ranging between €4.60-5.30 per sqm per month, out of 54 markets analysed, Prague and the Polish cities of Katowice, Wrocław, TriCity and Poznań are among the ten cheapest locations for renting a modern warehouse globally. In Europe, Poznań (€4.68/sqm/month) is the most cost-effective location with only certain cities in India and Vietnam having lower overall warehousing property costs.

HB Reavis has sold a plot of land in the centre of Prague, which was created by the demolition of the former Transgas complex, to local developer PSN for a record sum of CZK 870 million.

AFI Europe has signed an agreement for the purchase of Avenir Business Park in Prague 5 owned by Tristan Capital Partners. The office complex, offering more than 25,600 sqm of premium office space, is close to 100% occupancy. Among its tenants are companies such as CSOB, ING, Porsche, McDonald’s, Dermacol and Coloplast.

The total stock of purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA) in Prague exceeds 28,400 beds. 91% of these capacities are in the ownership of universities and the remaining 9% is provided by the private sector, according to the latest Savills “Student Housing in Prague” report.

Czech development group Horizon has announced the successful completion of the acquisition of 240,000 square metres of land from the Manghi Group in the village of Statenice in the district of Prague-West. The Aura - Bydlení Statenice residential project will be built on the newly-acquired plot, eventually offering over 500 units in the form of family houses and flats, while helping to strengthen local civic amenities. The start of development, as well as the sale of semi-detached houses and villas from the first phase of the project, is planned for this autumn.

This year, P3 will focus on offering clients facilities constructed on a built-to-suit basis. On a site adjacent to highway D6 near Prague, the industrial developer is ready to start building 17,000 sqm of warehouse space immediately. Additional thousands of square metres are on offer midway between Prague and Dresden at P3 Lovosice, and the first columns will soon be erected in P3's new parks in Ostrava and in Myslinka near Pilsen. All of P3's new buildings will carry a BREEAM Very Good or higher certificate.

Home office is just an effective supplement that will not replace the need for office space. Time will show that people need to meet each other and robots will replace those professions movable to a full-time home office, says Eduard Forejt, Development Director at Czech company Passerinvest Group, who talked to Property Forum about the future of office work and the company's development plans.