Yovav Carmi, CEO and Ariel Ferstman, CFO of Globe Trade Centre talked to Property Forum about GTC`s recent acquisitions, the sale of the Serbian office portfolio, coping with COVID-19's long-term effects and their new investment strategy.

Colliers announced the end of its affiliation with its partner in Serbia (AVT RE DOO) and Greece (AVTB Private Company), effective immediately.

During the last six years, between 2015 and 2020, the Serbian construction industry rolled out into one of the strongest growth cycles in recent history. The powerful surge in construction outputs surpassed all initial expectations, and there are a number of converging factors behind its formidable result. The recovery after the recession gradually transformed itself into a fully-fledged construction boom, which more than doubled Serbia’s construction output, from €2 billion in 2015 to €4 billion in 2019. Even the pandemic in 2020 didn’t change the very positive outlook, although it did cause a slowdown and negative consolidation of construction outputs by some 5% at constant prices. The expected growth should return in 2021, however. The EECFA (Eastern European Construction Forecasting Association) has released its latest article about the Serbian construction industry, written by Dejan Krajinović, Beobuild Core D.O.O.

In February 2021, the N3 building of GTC’s Green Heart office complex in Belgrade has obtained a LEED Gold certificate, thus finalising the certification process for the whole complex. Completed in 2020, Green Heart comprises five Class A buildings providing 46,300 sqm of office space.

Optim Project Management has been appointed to project manage the construction of a new Continental electronics assembly and manufacturing facility in Novi Sad.

Developer AFI Europe completed the second phase of the construction of the Skyline Belgrade mixed-use project, a 3-story building, totalling over 3,800 sqm of prime office and retail space.

CTP has completed the acquisition of 27.5 hectares of land close to Belgrade city centre and is moving plans forward to develop CTPark Belgrade Centre, which will become Serbia’s largest logistics and technology facility to date with over 130,000 sqm of gross lettable area. The new CTPark will be strategically located 6 km from Belgrade’s city centre, 2 km from New Belgrade, and 5 km from Airport Belgrade.  

Lidl Serbia plans to start the construction of a new, 60,000 sqm logistics canter in Lapovo, a city located approximately halfway between Belgrade and Nis on the A1 highway, in the coming months, local media reports.

Romania-based project management company Optim PM has opened a branch in Belgrade to expand its services on the Southeast European real estate market.

The industrial segment has stood out as the most resilient sector to the crisis and the markets Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia and Bulgaria present a huge opportunity for further growth. Boško Tomašević MRICS, Managing Director SEE at CBRE talked to Property Forum about investment market expectations and shared the company’s expansion plans for the Balkans region.