Occupier and investment sentiment continues to be positive across Central and Eastern Europe according to the RICS Commercial Property Monitor for Q1 2017. Similarly to last quarter, Hungary remains the most upbeat market globally with the Czech Republic also performing remarkably well. The picture is slightly more mixed in Croatia and Romania, still, near term momentum remains positive in the two markets.

Knight Frank was appointed sole agent to commercialise V.Offices – a project currently under construction by AFI Europe in Kraków – and buildings B and C of the Sportowa Centrum office complex in Gdynia. Knight Frank has also been appointed property manager of the Lobos office building in Kraków, a property is owned by the Lobos Group.

M7 Real Estate has acquired a portfolio of 11 light industrial assets in Hungary and the Czech Republic, on behalf of M7 CEREF I, from a joint venture between Partners Group and Cromwell Property Group. The portfolio comprises 209,832 sqm, with seven of the assets located in Hungary and the remaining four in the Czech Republic.

LaSalle Investment Management has acquired the River Garden I office complex in Prague’s Karlín business district on behalf of its LaVA mandate for approximately €57 million. The seller is Slovak asset management company IAD Investments on behalf of Prvý realitný fond.

In February, Warimpex announced the sale of a portfolio of eight hotels to the Thai investor U City. On 31 May, the transaction was successfully closed. Warimpex has taken advantage of this positive momentum on the CEE hotel investment market with this portfolio deal and is set to strengthen its capital structure and to position itself for new development projects.

Echo Polska Properties (EPP) and Echo Investment have finalised the purchase of shares in the Galeria Młociny shopping centre in Warsaw, which is under construction. EPP is its majority shareholder (70%) and it will manage the completed asset whereas Echo Investment holds the remaining 30%, it is to finish the construction process and will be responsible for the commercialisation and marketing of the project.

Prologis announced that its 33,700 sqm build-to-suit facility for Czech sports retailer Sportisimo at Prologis Park Prague-Rudna is the first logistics facility in the Czech Republic and only the second such building in Central and Eastern Europe to receive BREEAM’s highest accreditation rating.

Real estate funds managed by Blackstone have agreed to sell their pan European logistics company, Logicor, to affiliates of China Investment Corporation (CIC) for €12.25 billion.  Logicor owns and operates a portfolio of high-quality logistics assets totalling 147 million square feet, in 17 countries with over 70% concentrated in the UK, Germany, France and Southern Europe.  

AFI Europe signed a pre-agreement to sell AFI Park 1-3 office buildings to Dedeman, a Romanian DIY retail company. The agreement also includes an option to sell AFI Park 4&5. The total price for AFI 1-5 is approximately €164 million. 

Central Europe’s smallest capital has attracted a lot of interest from investors in 2016 with more and more major players keeping their eyes on Bratislava in 2017. Nearly 20 speakers and more than 100 guests came together in the Slovak capital at the first ever Bratislava Property Summit, organised by Property Forum in cooperation with RICS.