Retail is among the real estate sectors most affected by the COVID-19 crisis. As most stores have been ordered to close across Europe, retail landlords face an unprecedented challenge. Duarte Cabral, Deputy Managing Director EMEA at Sonae Sierra shared with us his initial impressions on this rapidly evolving situation.

GTC signed a €130 million refinancing loan agreement for one of the largest assets in its portfolio, Galeria Jurajska. Located in Częstochowa, the 48,700 sqm shopping centre offers over 200 stores, service points, restaurants and a multi-screen cinema.

The Park Center shopping centre in Sofia, managed by Ceres Management Services, is now fully leased. On the last business day of 2019, the lease agreement for the last remaining vacant space in the mall (60 sqm on floor 2) was signed, which will be transformed into a new dining concept.

Developer and operator SES Spar European Shopping Centers has announced that the customer opening of Slovenia’s most modern shopping centre, located in the northern district of Šiška in Ljubljana, is scheduled to take place on 19 March 2020.

Ikea plans to open a new furniture store in central Vienna, next to the Westbahnhof railway station with no parking place for cars. The construction works started in January 2020 and will be finished by next year.

Alpha Bank Romania has sold a 60,000 sqm plot of land in Timișoara to German retail chain Lidl and two other investors. The Romanian bank previously planned to develop a shopping centre there, Ziarul Financiar reported.

The area of Budapest’s Arena Mall could grow from its current 42,000 sqm to 60,000 sqm, following the property manager’s application for an extension last December, local daily HVG reports. If the plans are realised, Arena Mall will become the largest shopping centre in Hungary.

Cushman & Wakefield contributed to the leasing of over 6,600 sqm prime retail warehouse area, and to the sales of 7,000 sqm countryside retail area in Q4 2019. 

Britain’s Poseidon Group and Belgium’s Mitiska REIM has sold Capitol Park Rakovica, the largest retail park in Belgrade, to Israel’s BIG CEE Group. The transaction closed in December 2019. CMS Belgrade advised the sellers.

Graz-based Supernova Group is continuing its expansion in Slovenia by buying ten shopping centres of Centrice Real Estate GmbH (a company of the American Lone Star fund). The latter had taken over the properties in 2016 from the Austrian company, Heta, the liquidation company of Hypo Alpe Adria within the framework of a major overall transaction. This Qlandia package was the centrepiece of the portfolio and incorporates market-leading shopping centres in several Slovenian regions.