Pradera, a retail property fund and asset manager, has announced the first closing of the Pradera European Retail Parks SCSp, a Luxembourg fund. In a €900 million transaction agreed with IKEA Centres, the Fund has signed a contract to acquire 25 prime retail parks next to IKEA stores in eight European countries, including Poland and the Czech Republic.

Buildings account for over 40% of energy consumption in Europe, of which   around 75% are not energy efficient. This illustrates the importance of obtaining sustainable development certificates for both newly-developed and existing buildings. Their energy efficiency is assessed based on modeling and energy simulations. However, so far, there has not been any analysis regarding the actual energy consumption of a building: what is the impact of the implementation of innovative systems, appropriate management, specifications and the expected level of the users’ comfort on the building energy performance? These issues have been thoroughly addressed in the first study in Europe, conducted by Skanska, Go4Energy and Cushman & Wakefield, which analyses office buildings in Poland.

Commerz Real, a subsidiary of Commerzbank, has purchased a historical office building, " Na příkopě 33" in the centre of Prague for its open-ended real estate fund HausInvest. The seller is Komerční banka, a subsidiary of Société Générale. The transaction price has not been disclosed.

The ceremonial laying of the cornerstone for Ada Mall, GTC’s latest retail investment in Belgrade, was held on 6 March 2017. The opening of the 34,000-sqm mall is scheduled for autumn 2018.

ČS Real Estate fund, the largest and oldest Czech open-ended property fund, managed by REICO, has announced its intention to expand its acquisition programme to Poland and Hungary. 

Building G, the 7th element of the Bonarka for Business (B4B) office complex in Kraków, has been just handed over. The 100% built-to-suit, eight-storey Class A office building has 10,000 of sqm GLA and will host Euroclear, a Belgium-based financial services company. Having closed 8,000 sqm of lease renewals and new leases in the last months, TriGranit plans the delivery of further 3 office buildings in B4B in the near future. 

Owner Strabag has put the five-star JW Marriott Hotel on the market, zf.ro reports. The potential sale is reported to have attracted interest from various foreign and local investors, including the Paval brothers, the owners of DIY retailer Dedeman. The value of the 402-room hotel is estimated to be around €100 million.

Luxembourg-based Rubik Ventures has sold an office building in the 11th district of Budapest to Videoton Group. The property, located on Bocskay Road, has 5,000 sqm of GLA and is fully leased to Colas Hungaria Zrt. 

Invesco Real Estate (IRE), a global real estate investment manager, has acquired the 232-room Sheraton Grand Hotel Krakow for €70 million on behalf of one of its UK pension fund separate account clients. The seller was hotel investor Algonquin.

The investment volume achieved in 2016 totalled almost €1.2 billion with 46 transactions recorded in core CEE hotel investment markets. In comparison, 2015 reached just over €700 million with 45 transactions. Austria was the star performer with almost €800 million transacted, which made up 67% of the total investment volume. In other CEE markets volume was lower than in 2015 with a particular decline in Poland which more than halved in volume. The Czech Republic accounted for 18% of total CEE investment share; most of the investment took place in Prague which saw 7 transactions including the Hilton Old Town, Park Hotel and Chopin Hotel.