Round Hill Capital announced that funds advised by Blackstone Tactical Opportunities and Round Hill Capital have exchanged contracts to sell the shares of a residential property portfolio in the Czech Republic owned and operated by Residomo to Heimstaden Bostad AB for a total purchase price of €1.3 billion.

Värde Partners, a leading global alternative investment firm, entered into a definitive agreement to sell a portfolio of eight luxury hotels operating under The Dedica Anthology brand to Covivio, a European real estate operator, through its subsidiary Covivio Hotels. The portfolio includes New York Palace and New York Residence in Budapest and Carlo IV in Prague.

Star Capital Investments has acquired Lighthouse Towers, a Class A office building in Prague 7’s thriving Holešovice district. The seller was Deka Immobilien. The property comprises two stand-alone buildings joined at the underground parking level, where 360 parking spaces are provided.

In Q3 2019, the total office stock in Prague reached 3.59 million sqm, according to Colliers International. Completions include two new and one refurbished property: Dock In Three in Prague 8 (16,000 sqm), Argentinská Office Building in Prague 7 (5,800 sqm) and the refurbished Life Building C in Prague 4 (11,100 sqm).

Prologis has started the development of a 21,000 square meter speculative facility at the fully occupied Prologis Park Prague-Uzice in the Czech Republic. The facility will be completed in Q2 2020 and it will offer flexible space solutions for all types of business – logistics/storage or production, with unit sizes starting at 4,500 square meters. It has further development potential for up to another 42,000 square meters.

Two retail parks in the Czech portfolio of the Focus Estate Fund end their year with zero vacancy: Most Retail Park (GLA – 6,471 sqm) in the city of Most and Centro Ostrava Retail Park (GLA – 7,699 sqm) in the city of Ostrava.

Currently, less than two hundred public charging stations for nearly 4,000 registered electric and hybrid vehicles exist in the Czech Republic. Data of energy companies show that the number of public charging stations should increase to 1,300 by the end of 2020. Developers building charging stations within their new office, retail and industrial properties are also preparing for electromobility, according to Arcadis, an international company focused on consultancy in the field of construction, environment and sustainable growth.

Local investor DRFG, through its Czech Real Estate Investment Fund, has acquired the Olomouc CITY shopping centre from Mint Investments. With this acquisition, DRFG manages the first primarily leisure-oriented property in its portfolio.

Trei Real Estate GmbH, a property developer and property asset holder of residential and retail real estate with activities across Europe, develops its sixth retail park of the Vendo Park brand in the Czech Republic. The property is located in the small town of Mnichovo Hradiste, which lies around one hour’s drive north-east of Prague. The total investment costs add up to €2.6 million and the completion is scheduled for Q2 2020. The company plans to keep the asset in its portfolio long-term.

European office take-up is forecast to reach 9.2 million sqm by the end of 2019, down 4% from 2018’s end-year volume. Prague is expected to exceed that decline, with take-up predicted to fall by 22% to 400,000 sqm as demand for office space in the Czech capital continues the downward trend that began in Q2, according to the latest Savills research.