The pandemic had a limited impact on the turnover of retail parks compared to shopping malls in Romania, according to real estate consultancy Cushman & Wakefield Echinox. 

Total take-up on the Bratislava office market reached 37,000 sqm which represents a year-on-year increase of 19.5%. As the pandemic slowed down, retail leasing activity also returned and with it the surge in footfall and turnovers. Total quarterly industrial/logistics take-up recorded a strong 22% year-on-year growth, reaching 146,300 sqm. Cushman & Wakefield published its Q2 2021 industrial, office and retail market reports focused on the Slovak market.

ZDR Investments Group has acquired the Tesco hypermarket in Senec, east of Bratislava, from Tatra Asset Management. Cushman & Wakefield represented the seller in their divestment.

Residential developer Lucron has sold the entire retail part of the Urban Residence project in Bratislava to Slovak group Coopex Hold. After the complete occupation of facilities and their sale, the entire Urban Residence is already in private hands.

Retail group NEPI Rockcastle secured a green loan worth €73.5 million from International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of World Bank, in a bid to expand its sustainable business infrastructure in Romania. 

Awaiting the reopening of shops and service outlets to go shopping at traditional brick-and-mortar stores, positive footfall results achieved by most shopping centres in May, the opening of a second Primark store with a third one in the pipeline, plus a strong debut of a new Polish off-price concept – these are some of the key news and developments to have taken place in the retail sector in Q2 2021, according to BNP Paribas Real Estate.

CBRE acted as an advisor to Patria Investiční společnost in the acquisition of a portfolio of two retail parks for the newly established Patria Logistics and Retail Fund from the Czech development group KPD. The two assets are the Ovčáry Retail Park in Kolín with a retail area of ​​8,950 square meters and tenants such as Lidl, Sinsay, Teta, Pepco, Tedi and Deichmann, and the Mohelnice Retail Park with an area of ​​approximately 2,750 square meters and long-term tenants, which are Mountfield and Jysk.

Polish developer Scallier has purchased a retail project in Timișoara from Oasis Group for an undisclosed sum. 

Tenants are responding to the change in customer preferences and are now increasingly likely to choose retail premises in modern residential areas. As JLL found in Miasteczko Wilanów in Warsaw, 2021 has seen the number of ground floor units grow by more than 100, an almost 25% increase on 2018. This trend is not limited to the capital city.

The increasing number of vaccinations is allowing the retail sector to catch its breath, with customers returning to ‘brick-and-mortar’ stores. JLL forecasts that total new supply could hit 540,0000 sqm in 2021, marking a return to pre-pandemic performances.