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.

108 Agency has purchased 100% of the shares of BNP Paribas Real Estate APM CR s.r.o., the Czech subsidiary of BNP Paribas Real Estate. 108 Agency was retained as preferred buyer after a competitive auction and immediately becomes the alliance partner of BNP Paribas Real Estate in the Czech Republic.

Accolade Industrial Fund confirms its position as the second-largest real estate fund in the Czech Republic as it reaches two milestones in the third quarter. The value of the fund's portfolio exceeded €1 billion. Furthermore, over 2,000 qualified investors are already investing with the fund. The fund's third-quarter performance was 7.36% in the CZK class and 7.86% in the EUR class. The fund's performance reflects the rising price of industrial real estate during 2021. This investment asset has become very attractive to large institutional players whose attention is causing industrial real estate to seek its price level.

JLL announced that Ben Rose has been appointed Head of Capital Markets for the Czech Republic. Ben takes over the role from Mike Atwell, who – after four years of heading up the Czech Republic and CEE capital markets team – returned to London to take up a senior position in the EMEA Industrial & Logistics investment team.

The office market is changing due to the coronavirus pandemic, albeit not as dramatically as initially expected. Offices as a concept are definitely not over and working from home is not becoming a lasting standard – it has been confirmed that it has its limitations and that personal contact is irreplaceable. A hybrid model, combining working in the office and at home, will likely be more common. Office space take-up is still below the pre-crisis figures, but the activity on the market has been growing recently. For the time being, the growth has not been enough to justify the growth in rental prices that would be necessary due to an increase in construction material prices, but both can be expected to grow in the future. The crisis has halted the progress of some schemes, so we will not see a major increase in new office stock before 2023. This could result in demand overhang, and thus in increased rents in the years to come, according to Cushman & Wakefield.