BMO Real Estate Partners announced the purchase of a high end department store in Prague, which is occupied by Van Graaf, on behalf of its pan-European retail property investment fund. BMO Real Estate Partners acquired the building from MTK Developments, a Vienna-based European real estate firm specialising in value-add investments.

Băneasa Developments, the operator of Baneasa Shopping City in the northern part of Bucharest, plans to expand the mall by 127,000 sqm. The developer plans to invest over to €300 million until 2026.

Globalworth Asset Managers SRL has entered into a conditional investment agreement to acquire a minimum of 50.01% and up to 67.90% of the issued share capital of Griffin Premium RE, a Dutch entity listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange.

The growth of e-commerce is transforming the retail market all over the world. Experts don’t believe that physical stores will completely disappear but owners of developers of retail assets will need to come up with new ideas in order to attract customers. Jan Kotrbáček, Head of Retail Agency CEE at Cushman & Wakefield analysed the CEE retail market for Property Forum.

pbb Deutsche Pfandbriefbank provided an investment facility of €22 million to CBRE Property Fund Central and Eastern Europe, an investment fund focusing on retail assets in Poland and Slovakia, managed by CBRE Global Investors. This is the second transaction after the refinancing of Wars Sawa Junior retail scheme one month ago. CBRE PFCEE will use the proceeds for the refinancing of the dominant Europa Shopping Center in Banská Bystrica. pbb acted as arranger and sole lender under the facility.

Immofinanz has completed and opened a further shopping centre under its Vivo! retail brand in the Polish city of Krosno. Vivo! Krosno has approx. 21,000 sqm of rentable space and is fully occupied. This shopping centre expands Immofinanz‘s Vivo! portfolio to ten locations in four countries with more than 314,000 sqm of rentable space.

REICO, Česká spořitelna’s real estate fund manager, expanded its Polish portfolio by the acquisition of the Galeria Sloneczna shopping centre in Radom. The value of the fund’s new acquisition is approximately €164 million (CZK 4.3 billion). The seller is an American insurance group that developed the asset in a joint venture partnership with AIG/Lincoln (now White Star Real Estate).

Cushman & Wakefield is responsible for the commercialisation of Pradera’s four retail parks in Poland: Homepark Targówek and Homepark Janki in Warsaw, Homepark Rawa in Katowice and Homepark Franowo in Poznań. The four retail schemes provide more than 100,000 sqm of GLA.

Master Management Group is planning the first European outlet centre with a village designed concept in Poland. The first phase of the project, located in Łomna near Warsaw, close to the Warsaw – Gdańsk route and Modlin Airport, will have an area of almost 19,000 sqm. The second phase will deliver a further 30,000 sqm.

Following the completion of piling works, Belgrade Waterfront announced the official start of structural works on BW Galerija, which represents the biggest shopping and lifestyle destination in Serbia and the region. The structural works contract was awarded to Gradina. Opening is scheduled for 2020.