The BNP Paribas Real Estate Poland team was joined at the beginning of March by Piotr Krawczyński who took up the position of Head of Capital Markets CEE. His responsibilities will include client acquisition and coordination of property purchase/sale transactions across Central and Eastern Europe. Furthermore, his scope of duties will also involve consultancy services in respect of property investment finance.

What is Warsaw residents' favourite shopping destination? Shopping centres. In this regard, the residents of Poland's capital differ from the residents of Madrid, Paris or Berlin, who prefer to visit stores located on their respective high streets. However, according to a new report by JLL, with the maturing shopping centre market, the popularity of high streets is increasing as well. As a consequence, high streets have a chance to come back into favour as alternative locations and diversify the expansion strategies of retailers.

Sylwia Pędzińska, Senior Partner at Colliers International and Head of the Workplace Innovation department, has been appointed head of a newly created Innovation & Knowledge department for Colliers’ Polish business. Dorota Osiecka will replace Sylwia as the new director of Workplace Innovation.

Companies from the BPO/SSC industry in Kraków and the Tri-City recorded the highest share for demand in the office sector. JLL summarized the activities of companies from the business services sector on the major office markets in Poland.

Panattoni Europe announced the development of Panattoni Park Opole. The project, with the scheduled area of nearly 48,600 sqm, will be developed within the city limits and will be dedicated to multiple tenants. The launch of construction is scheduled for Q2 2019.

In 2018 Globalworth registered an increase of 36% in portfolio value compared to 2017, reaching €2.5 billion, split 51% in Romania and 49% in Poland. Also, during last year, the gross leasable area of the company’s combined portfolio grew with over 250,000 sqm to 1 million sqm. Following the dynamic expansion in Poland and the new developments in Romania, Globalworth’s net operating income (NOI) noted an impressive increase by over 160% and exceeded €133 million.

JLL has represented a leading multi-product real estate manager for institutional investors, on the sale transaction of the K1 office building. The project was acquired by the Luxemburg fund FLE SICAV FIS – for investments in CEE and DACH exclusively advised by FLE GmbH, headquartered in Vienna. The value of the transaction is confidential.

Patrizia Immobilien AG has finalized the sale of its Atrium International office building on Jana Pawła II Avenue in Warsaw to Strabag Real Estate. This is a very attractive investment location on the capital's market, as the local development plan allows for the construction of an office tower with a height of up to 135 meters. Experts from JLL represented the vendor in the transaction process.

Panattoni Europe commenced the construction of Panattoni Park Sosnowiec II, totalling nearly 80,000 sqm. Panattoni Europe will also build an e-commerce logistics centre totalling in excess of 44,800 sqm for Amazon in Pawlikowice near Łódź, providing permanent jobs to more than 1000 people.

3.5 million sqm is the amount of flexible office space currently offered by operators on the 20 biggest office markets in Europe. Warsaw is ranked as the ninth biggest flex city in Europe. Last year, the city saw the largest growth of flexible space on the continent.