The redevelopment of the Eden Park retail park in Zgorzelec (Poland) has been completed, commissioning documents have been received and the rental campaign of the updated retail park is in full swing.

Two retail parks in the Czech portfolio of the Focus Estate Fund end their year with zero vacancy: Most Retail Park (GLA – 6,471 sqm) in the city of Most and Centro Ostrava Retail Park (GLA – 7,699 sqm) in the city of Ostrava.

Mitiska REIM, in association with its Romanian country partner Square 7 Properties, has accelerated its investment in Romania during 2019 and announced the opening of its latest retail park development in the city of Braila in the east of the country.

Trei Real Estate GmbH, a property developer and property asset holder of residential and retail real estate with activities across Europe, develops its sixth retail park of the Vendo Park brand in the Czech Republic. The property is located in the small town of Mnichovo Hradiste, which lies around one hour’s drive north-east of Prague. The total investment costs add up to €2.6 million and the completion is scheduled for Q2 2020. The company plans to keep the asset in its portfolio long-term.

Expo Market Doraly, one of Romania’s largest shopping parks specialized in home items and food products, located in Afumati, near Bucharest, announced plans to develop a 10,000 sqm retail park following a €6 million investment.

Trei Real Estate GmbH. a property developer and property asset holder for residential and retail real estate, keeps expanding its portfolio of Polish retail parks. The company, which is part of the Tengelmann Group, just opened its 13th retail park of the Vendo Park brand in Poland, this one in the town of Ostroleka. The total investment cost equals c. €3.8 million. The icity has around 52,000 residents and lies roughly a 90-minute ride north of Warsaw.

During its reconstruction, Eden Park Handlowy in Zgorzelec, Poland has changed its format from a shopping centre into a retail park with the total GLA increasing to 10,000 sqm. At the moment the park is actively filling its leasing areas. Agreements have been signed with several companies recently.

Immofinanz is driving the steady growth of its Stop Shop retail park brand, as previously announced, with a next step that includes the expansion of the portfolio to 90 locations. The most recent acquisitions include six fully rented retail parks in Slovenia and Poland with roughly 54,000 sqm of rentable space. The annual rental income based on invoiced rents amounts to approximately €6.6 million, which represents a gross return of 8.6%.

Romania was ranked fifth at a European level in 2018 regarding the deliveries of retail space in retail parks, being overtaken in this hierarchy only by France, Spain, Great Britain and Italy, according to Cushman & Wakefield’s report.

New research from Cushman & Wakefield has revealed European retail park floorspace increased by 2.2% in 2018, reaching a total of 50.1 million sqm, with France and Spain leading the way in terms of new schemes. The report states that 995,000 sqm of new retail park space was completed in Europe last year, down 15% on 2017. A stable development trend is expected going forward, with 1.4 million sqm of new retail park space scheduled for opening in 2019/2020. Nevertheless, quick and easy construction and a growing number of schemes below 5,000 sqm are expected to boost the number of openings.