Property developer Prime Kapital says it will invest close to €2 billion across Romania in retail, office and residential projects alongside MAS Real Estate by 2029. 

Hungarian investor-developer Wing has sold the Family Center retail park in the Western Hungarian city of Szombathely to local investor Unione Investment Group. Family Center Szombathely, with 28 shops and seasonally changing stalls, was acquired by Wing at the beginning of 2018 and has now been sold to the new owner with almost 100% occupancy.

The new facility will be built on the basis of the former Galeria Ozimska, the largest tenant of which was a Tesco hypermarket. In the new facility, 18,000 sqm of leasable area (GLA), a shopping arcade will be built, which will be accompanied by a classic retail park. Scallier was jointly responsible for the project acquisition and the preparation of the commercialization concept. Currently, it supervises the commercialisation and manages the facility. The design stage is underway and preparations for the redevelopment of the complex are underway. The opening of Ozimska Park is planned for August 2023.

Czech construction company HSF System completed the construction of the second part of the retail park H-Park 2 in Brno as the general contractor. The investor was RLRE Carina Property. The financial volume of the project was approximately CZK 70 million (€2.8 million).

Around 120,000 sqm of retail projects are slated for delivery in the second half of 2022, although some projects could be delayed until the first part of 2023, especially if the developers meet certain difficulties with the construction or leasing process, according to real estate consultancy Colliers. 

At the end of June 2022, the supply of modern retail space in the Czech Republic amounted to almost 3.97 million sqm. Shopping centres take about 67%, retail parks 31% and outlets the remaining 2% of the market. During the first six months of 2022, the retail park construction boom has not stopped yet and the retail market expanded by 19,500 sqm. Over the last five years, the share of retail parks has increased by 5%. The largest completed project in the first six months of this year was Shopping Centre Řepy in Prague. Another 52,300 sqm of retail space is currently under construction across 12 projects, of which 31,200 sqm is expected to be completed this year, says JLL in its retail market report for Q2 2022.

In H1 2022, GTC’s net profit amounted to €41 million in H1 2022 (compared to €21 million in H1 2021). This mainly resulted from a strong operating performance combined with profit from revaluation/impairment of assets and lower finance cost, partially offset by an increase in foreign exchange differences loss.

BIG is expanding its operations in Europe and entering the Polish market for the first time by purchasing two open commercial centres in Poland with a total value of €65 million.

Investment transactions worth €336 million were concluded on Romania’s property market in the first semester of 2022, up 13% year-on-year, while for the whole year the sector could generate deals closer to or even higher than €1 billion, according to a report by real estate consultancy Colliers. 

Andrzej Potyra, Head of Żabka Property Fund has talked to Property Forum about his investment strategies and recent developments, both retail and warehouse ones.