Cromwell Property Group has exercised its pre-emptive right to acquire a third-party investor interest in the Cromwell Polish Retail Fund (CPRF), which it has managed since acquiring the investment and asset manager from GE Capital Real Estate in 2013. The fund contains seven catchment dominating shopping centres with a gross asset value of circa €600 million. Since taking over the management of the fund, Cromwell has completed several major asset management initiatives including several refurbishments and expansions, as well as numerous lettings including a 170,000 sqm deal with Auchan and Schiever Polska across eight long-term leases in 2015.

The retail sector has been heavily affected by the changes brought on by technology. Solutions such as indoor localization provide limitless opportunities for retailers wanting to stay ahead of the competition. Oren Rosen, Co-Founder of Israeli startup Infuse Location Ltd talked to Property Forum about the changing shopping experience.

Immofinanz is driving the steady growth of its Stop Shop retail park brand, as previously announced, with a next step that includes the expansion of the portfolio to 90 locations. The most recent acquisitions include six fully rented retail parks in Slovenia and Poland with roughly 54,000 sqm of rentable space. The annual rental income based on invoiced rents amounts to approximately €6.6 million, which represents a gross return of 8.6%.

Savills has been appointed an office and retail leasing adviser for Okrąglak and Kwadraciak, two of the most iconic buildings in Poznań.

According to Cushman & Wakefield’s latest DNA of Real Estate Q2 2019 report, the European logistics sector continues to perform strongly with strong rental growth and investor demand driving down yield by 2bps, whereas yields in the European office and retail sectors remained flat.

Delivery of retail space will accelerate in the second half of the year, when approximately 150,000 square meters will be delivered in several cities in the country with new deliveries in Bucharest amounting for 35,000 square meters, according to the H1 Romania Retail MarketBeat report, realized by  Cushman & Wakefield Echinox.

The total modern retail stock in Romania, which includes both retail parks and shopping centres, has reached approximately 3.7 million sqm in the first half of 2019 and around 130,600 sqm are expected to be brought on the market by the end of the year, according to CBRE's latest research report.

Cresa represented Primark, a leading international fashion retailer, in the lease acquisition of its first store in Poland. The unit of 3,660 sqm of retail space will be located in Galeria Młociny in Warsaw.

Colosseum Centre, located in North-West Bucharest has secured with Credit Europe Bank the funding required to develop the current stage of expansion, that is the shopping mall, with fashion, leisure and food brands. JLL Romania has advised the developer in obtaining the funding.

In the first half of the year, developers delivered 215,000 sqm of new retail space in Poland, with six international brands making their debuts in the country. JLL summarised conditions on Poland's retail market at the end of H1 2019.