The Focus Estate Fund has acquired Park Handlowy Eden (Galeria Eden), Zgorzelec (Poland). Focus intends to invest more than €1.5 million in repositioning the 8,500 sqm retail centre with the support of its partner in development and leasing, Młyn Retail Parks Sp. z o.o.

 

Galeria Eden will continue to operate during construction work which will see the scheme evolve into a modern retail park with increased net leasable floor area to 10,000 m2 sqm.

 

This is Focus Estate Fund’s second investment in Polish retail real estate: two years ago the Fund acquired Galeria Sandomierz. The Fund’s portfolio also includes two retail centres in the Czech Republic.

 

The property was sold by DNB Assets Holdco. Czabański Gałuszyński i Partnerzy law firm supported the transaction on the buyer’s side. JLL has been appointed as property manager of the centre.

 

“The acquisition of this asset meets our investment criteria, contributes to our value-added investment strategy and is also a valuable addition to the fund’s portfolio, which is diversified across mid-scale retail properties in Poland and the Czech Republic. We plan to remodel the building within a year with our development partner, Mlyn. We are going to use contemporary trends in the retail space architecture in order to change the building’s format to a retail park. In our opinion, this will not only increase the floor space but also form a more mature real estate product for customers and increase its profitability”, said Maxim Shkolnick, Partner at Focus Estate Fund.

 

Galeria Eden is located in one of the largest shopping clusters in the region, directly on the border with Germany, next to the German city of Görlitz - a large cultural and industrial centre of this country. Main lessees are well-known and popular brands as Jysk, Komfort, Abra Meble, Pepco and Takko Fashion.