ARTICLES LABELLED WITH TAG shopping

Wood & Company, together with its JV partner Tatra Asset Management, has announced the acquisition of the Aupark Bratislava shopping centre in Slovakia from Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield. The completion of the transaction is expected during the first half of this year and is subject to standard conditions precedent, such as competition clearance.

Eurovea 2 obtained one of the largest real estate loans in Slovakia in recent years. Funding in the amount of €116 million will be used for the construction of the extension of the Eurovea shopping centre and the adjacent Pribinova X office building. Construction work by JTRE on both buildings is in full swing. The loan is provided by a syndicate of banks led by Tatra banka, together with Slovenská sporiteľňa and UniCredit Bank. The contract documentation was prepared by Dentons.

Without a doubt, the pandemic has brought many changes for the retail market but many developers see this as a time for trailblazers. Christoph Andexlinger, Chief Operations Officer at SES Spar European Shopping Centers discussed with Property Forum the effects the pandemic had on the company’s operations and shared some details about future plans.

Romania has development potential for retail projects in smaller cities, and five counties with a combined population of 1.8 million inhabitants are not covered by any modern retail schemes, according to a report by real estate consultancy Cushman & Wakefield Echinox. 

Hungarian developer Wing is set to start renovation works on the EuroCenter shopping centre in Budapest in the spring of 2021 with reopening scheduled for the spring of 2022. In addition to the international fashion brands, the shopping centre will offer its future visitors a diverse range of services, a renovated cinema, culinary experiences and a roof garden.

Henley Investments, a private equity real estate firm based in the UK, has purchased its first Polish shopping centre, Galeria Pestka in Poznań, from a global investment manager.

Spektrum shopping centre, CPI Property Group’s latest retail development in the Czech Republic, opened its doors on 25 March. Located in Čestlice, in Prague’s south-eastern agglomeration, Spektrum is a convenience-focused retail park comprising over 20 units and over 6,500 sqm of space.

Mountfield, Europe’s largest specialised retailer of garden machinery, swimming pools and home and garden equipment, has chosen the Shopping Palace centre as the site of its new store in Slovakia. Managing the shopping centre since 2013, the MVGM team has created a compact retail space for Mountfield, which covers 1,500 square metres and also includes a warehouse and suitable office space. On the occasion, MVGM summarised the state of Slovakia’s retail market.

Online shopping is continuing to grow in the European Union. With high street shopping affected by the COVID-19 restrictions and changes in habits and preferences, e-commerce can be expected to grow further. Data realised by Eurostat reveals that over the last five years, the largest increases in online shopping among internet users were recorded in CEE countries.

Although the retail segment is among those affected the most by the coronavirus crisis, this does not show in the number of brands newly incoming to the Czech market. Whereas 24 new brands came to the country in 2019, in the crisis year 2020 there were 25. This year, the number of newcomer brands could be even higher – some brands postponed opening their shops to 2021 due to the corona crisis., according to a report by Cushman & Wakefield.