14 outlet centres operating in Poland eye the increasing competition which will force numerous of them to undergo qualitative changes, enhance their offer and improve operational performance. Along with increasing wealth of Polish consumers, the premium offer will grow in outlet centres, according to new report “Bargain hunting. Potential of outlet centres in Poland” released by Colliers International and IQS.

The Romanian retail market continued to expand in 2016 with total stock reaching 1.22 million sqm in Bucharest and 2.3 million sqm in regional cities. For 2017 no major retail project is scheduled for completion in the capital, while 130,000 sqm are expected to be delivered in regional cities. DTZ Echinox Romania published its retail reports for 2016.

One of the subsidiaries of Plaza Centers has completed the sale of Suwałki Plaza shopping and entertainment centre in Poland to an investment fund for €42.3 million, which is in line with the last reported book value, the company reports.

With effect from this January, Cushman & Wakefield is the manager of both shopping centres in Mladá Boleslav. Both Olympia Mladá Boleslav, which Cushman & Wakefield has been managing since 2015, and Bondy shopping centre are now under the management of one company. CPI Property Group owns both centres.

CBRE Global Investors has acquired, on behalf of a separate account client, Prague’s Letňany Shopping Centre from Tesco. The value of the transaction has not been disclosed.

Slovak investor IAD Investments, acting through its fund Prvý realitný fond o.p.f., has purchased Laugaricio Shopping Centre in Trenčín, Slovakia. The original owners were private investors represented by Mint Investments. This sale, the largest property transaction in Slovakia this year, was brokered by Cushman & Wakefield. 

As announced in October 2016, Rockcastle concluded a preliminary agreement to acquire Galeria Warmińska shopping centre in the city of Olsztyn in Poland from Galeria Warmińska Spółka z Ograniczoną Odpowiedzialnością Spółka Komandytowa. All conditions precedent have been met and the transaction was concluded effective as of 15 December 2016.

An opportunity fund advised by Tristan Capital Partners, a pan-European real estate investment manager, has agreed to sell the Zakopianka Shopping Centre in Krakow, Poland, to Johannesburg-listed Echo Polska Properties for approximately €54 million.

Futureal Group has sold its Polish retail asset, Nova Park to a joint-venture formed by MAS Real Estate Inc. and Prime Kapital Limited for €88.5 million. Over the last four years Nova Park, located in central Gorzów in western Poland has become the largest shopping centre in the region with a catchment of 370,000 people. 

2016 was marked by the wait for the Posnania shopping centre to open, with its 60,000 sqm of Gross Leasable Area (GLA). However, next year we will see the opening of as many as three buildings with an area of over 60,000 sqm of GLA: Galeria Północna in Warsaw, Wroclavia and Forum Gdańsk.