The Iulius Company commences the construction works for the fourth office building of the total six to be included in the Openville Timişoara mixed-use development. Spanning on a 155 m height and 27 floors, United Business Center 0 (UBC 0) will be the tallest office building in Romania. The Openville project is currently under construction in the proximity of Iulius Mall Timişoara and, owing to the 130,000 sqm of office premises it will create, it hopes to become the main business hub in the west of Romania.

Atrium European Real Estate Limited has entered into an agreement to sell Atrium Militari shopping centre in Bucharest, Romania to MAS Real Estate Inc., for €95 million, representing a 9% premium to book value on 31 December 2017. The transaction is subject to the fulfilment of certain conditions precedent which are expected to be finalised by the end of the third quarter of 2018.

Marek Pohl assumed the role of Head of the Valuation Department at BNP Paribas Real Estate in Prague, thus obtaining a promotion from the position of Senior Property Valuer.

GTC continues its growth strategy and further expands its portfolio in Sofia. The developer and asset manager purchased Mall of Sofia, a prime shopping centre and office tower in Sofia’s Central Business District, seizing opportunity in the growing economy in Bulgaria. The property was formerly owned by Europa Capital.

Immofinanz has opened two further retail parks in its Stop Shop brand. The Stop Shop portfolio has now grown to 72 locations with roughly 500,000 sqm of rentable space in eight countries. The new properties are located in the Serbian cities of Požarevac (7,200 sqm) and Vršac (8,250 sqm). Both locations are 100% rented. The tenants include, among others, LC Waikiki, Reserved, Sinsay, CCC, Deichmann and DM.

Gross take-up on the Czech industrial market reached 420,300 sqm in Q1 2018., showing an increase of 41% compared to the same period of last year. The Industrial Research Forum announced the final industrial market figures for Q1 2018.

IAD Investments, the oldest independent Slovak asset management company, has acquired the Dunaharaszti industrial park next to Budapest. The acquisition of the logistics complex was made on behalf of its Prvý realitný fond, a mutual fund investing throughout Central Europe. This is the first fund acquisition made in Hungary and it means the successful entrance to the Hungarian real estate market.

During the first quarter of 2018, the Polish retail market witnessed investment transactions totalling over €1.7 billion. This is the largest volume ever recorded in Q1 on the market. JLL summarised Q1 2018 on the retail market in Poland.

Although the Czech property investment market continues to boom, it is likely that the total investment volume for 2018 will be lower than it was in 2017. Omar Sattar MRICS, Managing Director of Colliers International Czech Republic shared his predictions for the future of the Czech investment market.

So far in 2018 CBRE won the management of further 10 properties (industrial and shopping centres and an office building) in Budapest. The Budapest office now manages a 600,000 sqm portfolio in Hungary.