Coffee with Craig Show – daily CRE news covering the CEE region, Monday, May 16 with Winston Norman, Editor and Chief of EuropaProperty.com.
STRONG FIRST QUARTER FOR POLAND’S INVESTMENT MARKET
Poland’s investment market is facing new challenges due to the war in Ukraine. The end of the first quarter of the year was partly influenced by the new geopolitical situation. However, despite new circumstances, ongoing transactions are closing, which is reflected in Q1 2022 investment market results. Furthermore, regional investors from Lithuania, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia are maintaining their interest in real estate properties located in Poland.
“2022 recorded the third-best opening of the year since 2016 in terms of investment transactions with €1.7 billion of total investment volume,” commented Paulina Brzeszkiewicz-Kuczyńska, Research and Data Manager at Avison Young in Poland. This result was, however, determined by three extraordinary deals, which amounted to 75 percent of total volume transacted.”
One was the office acquisition of The Warsaw Hub by Google. Another significant transaction was the sale of 50 percent of EPP portfolios by establishing two joint ventures. Thus, the retail and office sectors have the dominant share in the total investment volume structure, reaching 44 percent. This is a rather outstanding result after the strong domination of the industrial sector, which is mainly caused by the lack of sizable industrial products on the market.
“Solid opening of 2022, as well as many currently ongoing transactions, confirm the stability of the real estate investment market. Transacted deals regarded both large and small properties in multiple sectors and the investment market saw also a few newcomers. Despite some turmoil, we expect that the investment market in Poland will continue to attract investors, ” added Paulina Brzeszkiewicz-Kuczyńska.
EBRD LENDS PLN 212 MILLION TO BUILD POLAND’S LARGEST SOLAR PV PLANT
EBRD is lending €46 million for the construction and operation of Poland’s biggest solar photo-voltaic plant at Zwartowo, an important step in strengthening Poland’s energy security and accelerating its move away from coal.
The Zwartowo plant will have a total capacity of up to 285.6 MWp and is expected to lead to carbon dioxide emissions savings of at least 138,000 tonnes per year.
The EBRD financing will be part of a larger package co-financed by commercial banks PKO BP SA and Pekao SA.
Poland currently uses coal, the most polluting fossil fuel, for over 70 per cent of its electricity generation. It faces one of the most significant energy transition challenges of all the EBRD’s countries of operation as it moves to align with the goals of the Paris Agreement on limiting global warming.
Poland is also one of the countries neighbouring Ukraine that will be eligible for the €2 billion War on Ukraine resilience package endorsed by the EBRD’s Board of Directors on 9 March.
HAGAG ADDS NEW RESIDENTIAL PROJECT TO ITS LOCAL PORTFOLIO
Real estate developer Hagag Development Europe has added a new residential project to its local Bucharest portfolio: The investment value is estimated to be over €20 million.
Currently, in the design phase, once completed, more than 4,000 sqm GBA of residential units and commercial spaces. The project will encompass 18 residential units and 700 sqm of commercial spaces available on the ground floor.
“The exclusive location, select surroundings and remarkable architecture, complemented by the area’s exceptional facilities secure all premises for H Primaverii 1 to quickly become an iconic residential landmark of Romania’s capital city”, said Yitzhak Hagag, Co-founder and shareholder of Hagag Development Europe.
CLOUD TENANT IN THE LIXA OFFICE COMPLEX
Yareal’s flagship investment has leased a whopping one-third of the recently completed LIXA C office building. The American company Snowflake, specialising in advanced cloud solutions, has leased over 7,000 sqm of modern office space in total. After signing a 10-year contract with Snowflake, office building C is already 60 percent commercialised.
“Snowflake offices will occupy nearly 40 percent of the available space in building C, providing employees with comfortable working conditions and ensuring further dynamic development of the company in Poland,” said Eric Dapoigny, president of Yareal Polska.
“We will be expanding rapidly in Warsaw and need an office that will help us attract the best engineers and other technical professionals,” said Warrick Taylor, VP of Global Real Estate and Workplace.
Snowflake was represented by experts from the CBRE consulting company.
“From the point of view of the office real estate market, it is also an important signal of Warsaw’s unwavering attractiveness for new investors,” said Aleksander Hofman, Director of the Office Space Department at CBRE.