The total modern retail stock in Romania, which includes both retail parks and shopping centres, has reached approximately 3.7 million sqm in the first half of 2019 and around 130,600 sqm are expected to be brought on the market by the end of the year, according to CBRE's latest research report.

Cresa represented Primark, a leading international fashion retailer, in the lease acquisition of its first store in Poland. The unit of 3,660 sqm of retail space will be located in Galeria Młociny in Warsaw.

Colosseum Centre, located in North-West Bucharest has secured with Credit Europe Bank the funding required to develop the current stage of expansion, that is the shopping mall, with fashion, leisure and food brands. JLL Romania has advised the developer in obtaining the funding.

In the first half of the year, developers delivered 215,000 sqm of new retail space in Poland, with six international brands making their debuts in the country. JLL summarised conditions on Poland's retail market at the end of H1 2019.

28 out of the total of 80 brands that tapped the market in the Central and Eastern European region in 2018 chose the Czech Republic as their destination. As a result, the number of new brands coming to the country remained the same as in the previous year. Poland is a close second with 26 new international brands having opened their first shops there last year. The figures come from the latest comparison prepared by Cushman & Wakefield, which monitors and compares data in the real estate sector across the region. This enables the company to provide a full picture of the developments on the Central European market.

Neptune, a joint venture between Neinver and Nuveen Real Estate, has acquired Silesia Outlet in Gliwice, Poland, from 6B47 Real Estate Investors for €31.5 million. The new acquisition becomes Neptune’s sixth asset in Poland and the 15th in Europe, including one project under development.

EPP has successfully completed the purchase of four M1 shopping centres, closing tranche 2 of its multi-year M1 transaction. The JSE-listed company is already the largest owner of retail real estate in Poland by GLA and this deal with adding an additional 141,000 sqm of GLA to its portfolio. Tranche 2 consisted of M1 shopping centres in Bytom, Czestochowa, Radom and Poznan. The deal is valued at EUR 224 million.  

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.

The share of food & beverages in modern shopping centres in Sofia is two to three times below the European benchmark, according to the latest report by Colliers International. From 5% a decade ago, it grew to 10-15% of GLA in European cities in present times and is forecasted to reach 20% by 2025. The share of F&B in Sofia shopping centres is about 6% or 20,000 sqm of the total space.

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.