Cushman & Wakefield, a leading global real estate services provider, analyzed developments in the industrial real estate sector in five Central European countries (Czechia, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia) in 2020 and provides key findings.
The prolific change of 2020 has shaped the real estate industry more than anything else in decades. The digitization had been underway before the pandemic, but the speed of that shift has accelerated in ways that nobody could have predicted.
Developer and owner of logistics and semi-industrial real estate VGP has begun construction of a new technology park near the South Bohemian metropolis. VGP Park České Budějovice will be established directly on the outskirts of the city in the Světlík commercial zone with excellent transport connections to the center and a direct access to the D3 motorway connecting Prague and Linz, Austria.
Amber Beverage Group (ABG) has signed an agreement with Jungheinrich to purchase the € 15.5 million equipment needed to build an automated high-rise warehouse in the Latvian capital, Riga. It is a solution in the form of automation, including automatic trolleys. A high-rise warehouse with 35,000 pallet spaces in eight aisles and an automated small parts warehouse with two aisles with a foundation height of 22 meters will be created.
108 The Agency published the first edition of the original project. A report that provides a clear summary of the most interesting data and information from the industrial real estate market in terms of the share of individual development companies and owners. The updated report will be published regularly twice a year.
While the current pandemic situation has accelerated the development of e-commerce, retail parks in the CEE region have shown resilience to the constraints of traditional brick-and-mortar retail. Last year, they were among the more profitable types of real estate. In addition, interest in investing in them is growing. Retail parks have higher operational flexibility, in essence it is an open, partly outdoor shopping concept, the advantage is their location with good accessibility for shoppers with a spacious parking lot. The design and area of the stores in them adaptability to the requirements of retailers using the omnichanne model of sales.
The fund from the domestic real estate company Arete sold a package of warehouses and production halls across the Czech Republic and Slovakia. The transaction also included, for example, the European logistics headquarters of the C&A clothing chain in Nové Mesto nad Váhom. The price exceeded 113 million euros, which is almost three billion Czech crowns according to the current exchange rate. The buyer is the Cromwell European Real Estate fund from the Australian Cromwell Property Group.
Petr Narwa, Head of Transaction & Consulting Services at Prochazka & Partners, who has long been involved in commercial real estate and investment services, answered the interview. What does Petr say about the current situation in the market, where tenants are currently trying to save as much as possible and where the pandemic has disrupted the income of real estate investors?
