The Czech retail market and physical retail segment remain attractive for retail brands, as the arrival of 38 new international brands last year confirms: this is the highest number in the last three years. This means a 52% year-on-year increase over the 25 new brands arriving in 2020, according to Cushman & Wakefield.

AFI Europe has completed the rough construction of an apartment building in the newly built AFI City district in Prague 9 - Vysočany. A total of 640 apartments are being built on a brownfield site near the Kolbenova metro station, exclusively for rental housing in two separate buildings, which will also include commercial space for shops, services and a restaurant. The construction of the first of them, with 313 units, has just moved towards completion and is successfully heading towards completion in Q4 2022.

Garbe Institutional Capital has launched a pan-European residential real estate fund with a total target investment volume (GAV) of around €800 million. The Garbe European Residential Fund (Garbe EUResi) invests in real estate developments and selectively also in properties undergoing energy rehabilitation. The investment strategy follows a "boots on the ground" approach: the fund only invests in locations where Garbe can act as a local investor through a local presence. The fund’s launch is a milestone in Garbe Institutional Capital’s move to expand into a European residential real estate platform. Garbe EUResi has already received equity commitments of €82.5 million.

Property Forum is looking for a part-time editor covering the Czech and Slovak real estate markets to help expand its CEE intelligence platform. 

UBM Development Czechia has completed the reconstruction of the more than 100-year-old former Cukrovarnicky Palace on Senovážné Square in the centre of Prague. The 176-room five-star Andaz Prague hotel will open in the historic building, marking the Hyatt chain’s entry into the Czech Republic. The hotel will be put into trial operation in early 2022.

The shareholders of Atrium European Real Estate have voted in favour of the company merging with Gazit Globe subsidiary Gazit Hercules 2020.

Stockholm-based global investment manager EQT Exeter has acquired five logistics halls in two parks in Ostrava (Logistics Park Nošovice and Ostrava Airport Multimodal Park) offering 140,000 sqm of Class A space from J&T and Concens Investments. CBRE advised the sellers in the €150 million transaction.

CPI Property Group announced that the Group has signed disposals that will raise gross proceeds of about €700 million and net proceeds of about €550 million following repayment of associated asset-level debt.

Czech shopping centre revenues for the first ten months of this year reached a similar level as they did in the same period of 2020. Since April, footfall has been consistently higher than last year. The number of new brands coming to the market has been the highest in the last three years, mostly in the fashion segment, according to Cushman & Wakefield.

Irish clothing chain Primark has expanded the space it leases in CTPark Bor, the largest Czech industrial park. CTP, the developer and owner of the park, recently finished another warehouse for Primark, which will be fully automated, incorporating the latest robotic technology. In total, Primark leases approximately 80,000 sqm of Class A warehouse space in CTPark Bor.