GTC Bulgaria has informed that the varied tenant portfolio of Advance Business Center II will be enriched by Commerzbank. One of the largest German banks will lease over 3,500 sqm GLA of office space starting 1st December 2020. The pre-leasing agreement was consulted by CBRE. Advance Business Center II is under construction phase and due for delivery in Q4 2020.

The competition authorities of Poland, Hungary and Serbia have all granted consent for Optimum Ventures Private Equity Fund’s takeover of a majority shareholding (61.49%) in Globe Trade Centre S.A., a Polish company trading on the Warsaw Stock Exchange and Johannesburg Stock Exchange.

SES Spar European Shopping Centers has opened Aleja Center in Ljubljana on 20 May 2020. The €150 million investment serves as a mixed-use shopping and leisure hotspot. The centre was completed in March, but, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the originally planned opening date had to be postponed. The first shops with focus on local supply opened at the beginning of May, and the entire centre is set into full operation on 20 May. The Planet Lollipop children's adventure world and part of Aleja SKY are scheduled to open at a later date.  

The Downtown One project has been awarded a LEED Precertification on the Gold level. It is the first building in Albania to be LEED precertified by the U.S. Green Building Council. The precertification process was advised by Colliers International Albania and the Colliers International Poland Green Building Advisor Team lead by Andrzej Gutowski.

In the Serbian economy, the construction industry has been one of the sectors least affected by COVID-19, with only smaller decrease recorded in production volumes and logistical capacity. The Eastern European Construction Forecasting Association has published a COVID-19 update on the construction sector of Serbia.

The ongoing COVID-19 outbreak seems to be having a severely negative impact on market sentiment across the CEE region, according to the latest RICS Commercial Property Monitor. Q1 2020 figures show that both rental and capital value expectations have been downgraded across the region with retail expected to see the sharpest decline and industrial proving to be the most resilient asset class.

The coronavirus outbreak continues to affect people and economies deeply. In the latest online panel organized by Property Forum, three real estate professionals discussed the impacts of the coronavirus crisis on the Bulgarian property market.

The office market in Sofia faces a significant slowdown, due to the economic uncertainty and weakening business activity caused by COVID-19, according to the latest market report of Forton, a strategic partner of Cushman & Wakefield for Bulgaria and Macedonia.

Property Forum’s series of virtual events, organised in partnership with the RICS, continues with a free online panel discussion providing a market update for Bulgaria. Attendance is free but registration is mandatory.

The construction industry seems to have been relatively less affected than some other industries (like tourism) as most large projects continue during the lockdown measures across the region. The Eastern European Construction Forecasting Association has published a COVID-19 update on the construction sectors of Bulgaria, Croatia and Slovenia.