GTC’s Polish flagship retail project was officially granted a final occupancy permit. Galeria Północna, comprising 64,800 sqm of leasable space, is the first major modern shopping and entertainment centre located in Warsaw’s Białołęka district. The investment was completed within 25 months after obtaining the construction permit.

The Czech Republic has become the top performer of the Central European region in terms of the volume of investment that has flowed into commercial real estate since the beginning of 2017. Unlike the preceding years when Poland was the clear number one, the largest amount has been invested in the Czech Republic, even though the country’s market is roughly one half the size of its larger neighbour’s market. 

pbb Deutsche Pfandbriefbank provided an investment facility of €63 million to CBRE Property Fund Central and Eastern Europe (CBRE PFCEE), an investment fund focusing on retail assets in Poland and Slovakia, managed by CBRE Global Investors. CBRE PFCEE will use the proceeds for the refinancing of the shopping centre “Wars Sawa Junior” in Warsaw. The transaction closed in August 2017. pbb acted as arranger and sole lender under the facility. 

During the first half of 2017 demand and supply of modern retail space in Bulgaria have been aligning with each other, according to a new research by Colliers International. During the period, modern shopping centers retail space supply balanced with demand by keeping its previous levels of 791,760 sqm in the country and 406,660 sqm in Sofia. Together with this for a few periods now, retail space absorption has been steadily going up. During the last half-year period, it recorded an 11% increase, providing for demand - supply balance. 

Prague-based Star Capital Investments has become the new owner of the Futurum Ostrava and OC Haná shopping centres in the Czech Republic. CBRE participated in these transactions, representing the foreign sellers. CBRE also manages the building and leasing activities for Futurum Ostrava.

Real estate investment flows into the Central & Eastern European region rose 17% year-on-year in the first half of 2017 to €5.4 billion, putting 2016’s cycle high of €12.2 billion well in 2017’s range, according to Colliers International’s latest report.

AFI Brasov has recently obtained the construction permit and will be the third shopping center AFI Romania is developing in Romania. The shopping center will offer a total gross leasable area of 45,000 sqm, 80% of which is already leased, that will be combined with two additional Class A office towers totalling 25,000 sqm GLA. The overall investment for the mall and first office building is estimated to be over €120 million. The entire project is developed to be LEED Gold certified as a green building.   

In the first half of 2017, there were only approximately 30,000 sqm of retail space delivered to the market in Poland, half of which are extensions. The total stock of modern retail space at the end of June 2017 reached about 11,2 million sqm. Supply for 2017 is estimated at a similar level compared to the previous year (almost 400,000 sqm), according to the latest report by Colliers International.

The AFI Ploiesti shopping center, owned by AFI Europe Romania, received the LEED Gold Certification. AFI Ploiesti thus becomes the only building in town to achieve the LEED Certification.

Pan-European fund manager Aerium has sold a shopping centre in Brno to CPI Property Group, for an undisclosed sum. Built in 2004, Kralovo Pole Shopping Centre comprises of a two-level gallery with 78 shops and a food court, providing a total of 26,500 sqm GLA plus 900 parking spaces. It is anchored by a Tesco hypermarket.