By opening its first hostel in Poland’s capital Warsaw, Berlin-based budget group a&o is set to expand its portfolio to 35 hostels, 22 cities, and seven countries. The former office building in the central district of Wola will have over 200 rooms and 600 beds, and will open in Q3 2019.

Last year an astonishing 860,000 sqm of office space was leased, with the vacancy rate dropping 8.7%, and new supply totalling 230,000 sqm. Currently, the total under-construction volume stands at 720,000 sqm. JLL summarised the Warsaw office market in 2018.

Catalyst Capital, a European real estate investment and fund management firm, has completed the acquisition of €194 million of high-quality retail assets in Sweden, Germany, Poland and an office development in Paris for its new Catalyst Core Plus European Property Fund (CCPEPF), a €1 billion “evergreen” real estate fund. Catalyst has acquired Galleria Center Syd in Malmo from Baring Real Estate, the Rathaus Center Dietzenbach near Frankfurt from Hahn Group, the Zielony Targówek retail park in Warsaw from Credit Suisse Asset Management and agreed to forward fund an office development by VINCI Immobilier in Saint-Denis, Paris.

The European Investment Bank (EIB) has signed a €60 million loan agreement with ArtN Sp. z o.o., a subsidiary of Capital Park S.A., for a flagship project to revitalise the former Norblin factory site in central Warsaw. This is the first EIB transaction in Poland with a real estate investor under a project financing scheme.

In early October 2018, Cushman & Wakefield was appointed a property manager for Proximo II, an office building in Warsaw. The owner of the complex is ČS nemovitostní fond, the largest open-ended Czech investment fund managed by REICO.

Służewiec, a district in Warsaw and one of the largest and most prominent business districts in Poland, currently offers nearly 1.1 million sqm of modern office space. According to recent estimates, there is approx. 87,000 office personnel employed in the area. As the needs of staff and residents of the city change, there is a groundswell of opinion suggesting that this part of Warsaw needs a new strategy and a fresh action plan. What activities would contribute to the improved functioning and more favorable perception of this district as well as maintaining its attractiveness as a key business hub?

From the beginning of January, Knight Frank has been appointed a property manager of the Kliwer office building located in Mokotow in Warsaw. Currently, the property is fully rented.

Golub GetHouse and Mennica Polska S.A. obtained financing for subsequent stages of the construction of Mennica Legacy Tower in Warsaw. More than €130 million of construction credit was granted by a consortium of three banks.

Globalworth Poland has closed the acquisition of two office buildings in Warsaw, Skylight and Lumen, from Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield.

GalCap Europe, an investment and asset manager active in Austria and the CEE region, has entered Poland with the acquisition of two historic boutique office buildings in Warsaw, Wilcza 46 and Mokotowska 33/35.