At the GTC 2025 conference in San José, USA in March, Kion Group presented how its subsidiary Dematic uses so-called physical artificial intelligence. It was a control tower that, in conjunction with a digital twin and AI, analyzes warehouse processes and helps to further streamline them. This is another result of Kion's collaboration with Nvidia and Accenture: the digital twin is created using Nvidia Omniverse technologies and the Mega Omniverse Blueprint platform.
After 20 years of operation in the Central European region, Prologis, a developer, reports that its warehouse portfolio there has surpassed five million square meters. The latest building, measuring 37,000 square meters, was recently completed at Prologis Park Ruda Śląska in southwestern Poland. In total, Prologis owns and manages almost 240 buildings in the region.
The new industrial zone Panattoni Park D4 Příbram is to be built near the Příbram airport on the D4 highway. It will be located in the cadastral areas of the municipalities of Drásov and Suchodol, approximately five kilometers from Příbram.
Still and Mercurius Industrial Properties have started construction of a mechatronics center in Hamburg. Still also plans to further develop its plant there – from 2026, it will produce its own lithium-ion batteries in the port city.
The qualified investor fund REALIA FUND SICAV expanded its portfolio with another acquisition at the end of January. It recently added a retail park in the village of Dobrá in the Frýdek-Místek district. With the purchase of the twentieth commercial property, the total value of the fund's portfolio increased to 2.5 billion crowns.
The jubilee twenty-fifth title in the prestigious EY Entrepreneur of the Year 2024 Czech Republic competition was awarded to Milan Kratin and Zdeněk Šoustal from Accolade. The company, founded in 2011, is among the leading players in the field of industrial and logistics parks and is currently active in ten European markets. The competition jury appreciated, among other things, their contribution to the revitalization of brownfields and the creation of new opportunities for the development of business and employment in the regions. The award, awarded under the patronage of the President of the Republic Petr Pavel, was received today at the National House in Vinohrady from the hands of Martina Kneiflová, Managing Partner of EY Czech Republic, and Tomáš Salomon, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Česká spořitelna, which is the main partner of the competition.
The Reico Long Lease mutual fund, which is now part of the parent group of Česká spořitelna Erste Group Bank, has made its first trip to Slovakia. It has purchased a newly built logistics complex in Senec, which is being leased by the multinational transport company DSV. The acquisition was worth 1.625 billion crowns and is the fund's fifth property.
The fourth quarter of 2024 did not bring any significant change to the industrial and logistics real estate market. Although demand returned almost to pre-Covid volumes, the number of newly completed buildings remained low. Only 106,700 square meters of new space were delivered, which is the lowest in the last three years. The vacancy rate increased by 3 basis points to 3.13% and the highest rent achieved stabilized at around €7.50 per square meter. Given that many projects planned for this year have been postponed, the development for 2025 looks significantly more positive, with 870,300 square meters of new space expected to be completed. This is according to a regular quarterly survey conducted by Colliers.
