Commercial real estate players in Romania will be inclined to conclude contracts for shorter periods than before the pandemic, as almost 80% of owners, developers and investors in this field consider contractual adjustments and flexibility to be the main attributes that will count for tenants and end-users when the health crisis ends, according to Deloitte Romania Commercial Real Estate Survey 2021.

Swedish furniture group Ikea is set to open its first store in Slovenia in Ljubljana today. To ensure a safe shopping experience and avert long queues in front of the store, Ikea has mandated advanced bookings for in-person shopping in the first weeks following the opening. The number of visitors is capped at 700 with Ikea estimating that they will spend roughly two hours on average browsing around the store.

Upon completing the acquisition of a 66% stake in Wrocław-based developer Archicom, Echo Investment is set to become the largest residential developer in Poland. Nicklas Lindberg, CEO of Echo Investment talked to Property Forum about the recent acquisition, dealing with the effects of the pandemic and Echo’s plans for the nearest months.

Growing international interest in pop-up stores has taken hold due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has caused a reevaluation of both traditional sales models, and customer shopping expectations. The main benefits associated with this particular format are the element of surprise, the opportunity to further enhance a retail offer as well as the chance to attract new groups of customers. Owners and tenants of retail locations are starting to see the benefit of pop-up stores along with many global brands such as Gucci and Prada, which have already responded to current trading conditions. So, is Poland set to see this trend as well?

Online shopping is continuing to grow in the European Union. With high street shopping affected by the COVID-19 restrictions and changes in habits and preferences, e-commerce can be expected to grow further. Data realised by Eurostat reveals that over the last five years, the largest increases in online shopping among internet users were recorded in CEE countries.

Polish company Scallier is developing a new chain of retail parks in Romania under the Funshop Park brand with the first three expected to open this year. Wojciech Jurga, Managing Partner at Scallier provided an update on the company’s development plans and talked about the differences between the Polish and Romanian markets.

Czech developer Crestyl Group is the process of developing a number of large-scale mixed-use projects in the capital and beyond. Omar Koleilat, CEO of the company talked to Property Forum about Crestyl’s development plans and shared his expectations for the Czech investment market in 2021.

2020 was a year characterized by increased activity in regional cities in terms of commercial centre deliveries, but the delivery volume of new spaces will reduce strongly this year, according to the real estate consulting company Cushman & Wakefield Echinox.

Total commercial real estate investment into the Slovak market amounted to €502 million in 2020, a year-on-year decrease of 27%, according to Cushman  & Wakefield’s market reports for Q4 2020.

Austria-based retail developer and operator SES Spar European Shopping Centers has announced the opening of a new retail park in the Hungarian city of Kaposvár which will take place on 11 March 2021. S-PARK Kaposvár is a supraregional supply centre featuring strong anchor stores, including the only Interspar market of the city, located in the southwest of the country. The addition of S-PARK Kaposvár increases SES’s property portfolio to a total of 30 shopping destinations in six countries.