AFI Europe has taken stock of the results for 2021, a year in which it has been fully committed to implementing its new corporate strategy focused exclusively on rental housing. The company is currently constructing four buildings in three residential projects in Prague. It plans to complete the larger part of them this year.

Thirteen years after the fire in 2008, the large Industrial Palace in Prague has begun renovation. Its reconstruction began on 1 February this year and should be completed within three years. According to the Czech Press Agency, the cost of the reconstruction is expected to be CZK 2.64 billion. The reconstruction will be carried out by a consortium led by Metrostav, Prague's City Hall announced.

In the Czech Republic, modular construction has often been used in prefabricated houses in the past. Now, developer YIT is coming up with prefabricated parts in the new residential project Lappi Hloubětín in Prague. Further use of the modules is planned in the Vesi Hostivař project, e15.cz reports.

Prologis has acquired additional development land near its existing logistics park in Ostredek, Czech Republic. Located on the other side of the highway running through the site, the addition of another 7.15 hectares with potential development space of 27,000 sqm will take the total park area to 196,000 sqm. This will allow the park to provide even more development opportunities beyond the 8,880 sqm building DC1 currently under construction.

Gross take-up on the Prague office market for the whole year of 2021 increased by 16% compared to the previous year to the level of 387,100 sqm. Prime headline rents also increased in Q4 2021 and ranged between €23.50–24.00 per sqm per month in the city centre. The Prague Research Forum published office market figures for Q4 2021.

B+N Referencia Zrt, as the winner of a tender announced last year, has been awarded with a contract for the provision of cleaning services at the Václav Havel Airport in Prague for another 4 years, starting on 1st January 2022. There were another 12 competitor in the tender, B+N was the only Hungarian headquaterd company.

CTP has appointed Harry Bannatyne as Group Head of Client Relations based in the company’s headquarters in Prague. Bannatyne was previously a Partner and Regional Director Industrial at Colliers in the Czech capital. Prior to that he was National Director, Head of Industrial Agency for the Czech Republic and Slovakia at JLL.

AFI Europe has completed the rough construction of an apartment building in the newly built AFI City district in Prague 9 - Vysočany. A total of 640 apartments are being built on a brownfield site near the Kolbenova metro station, exclusively for rental housing in two separate buildings, which will also include commercial space for shops, services and a restaurant. The construction of the first of them, with 313 units, has just moved towards completion and is successfully heading towards completion in Q4 2022.

Garbe Institutional Capital has launched a pan-European residential real estate fund with a total target investment volume (GAV) of around €800 million. The Garbe European Residential Fund (Garbe EUResi) invests in real estate developments and selectively also in properties undergoing energy rehabilitation. The investment strategy follows a "boots on the ground" approach: the fund only invests in locations where Garbe can act as a local investor through a local presence. The fund’s launch is a milestone in Garbe Institutional Capital’s move to expand into a European residential real estate platform. Garbe EUResi has already received equity commitments of €82.5 million.

UBM Development Czechia has completed the reconstruction of the more than 100-year-old former Cukrovarnicky Palace on Senovážné Square in the centre of Prague. The 176-room five-star Andaz Prague hotel will open in the historic building, marking the Hyatt chain’s entry into the Czech Republic. The hotel will be put into trial operation in early 2022.