EuropaProperty has successfully completed its 14th annual SEE Real Estate Awards at the Radisson BLU Hotel in Bucharest, Romania. The awards gala was heralded as a great success and was well received by all winners and their guests. For more “trending details” on Twitter please follow #SEERealEstateAwards.
The 14th annual SEE Real Estate Awards for 2018 was held in front of a large and enthusiastic crowd. The event brought together some of the region’s leading real estate developers, investors and market professionals, who were there to see who would collect the 25 prizes that were handed out over the course of the evening.
Company of the Year awards were presented to the leading developer, investor and professional service providers in South Eastern Europe for their activities and accomplishments during 2018. Companies were judged on their overall market contribution, quality of customer services, market innovation, commercial success, leadership and market penetration.
The quality and number of nominations for this year’s event suggested an underlying strength to the region’s property markets, resulting in some companies winning multiple awards. The biggest of which was AFI Europe. The developer shone the brightest on the evening picking up five awards, including a hattrick of developer awards in the residential, retail and office categories. The developer also scooped up a couple of project prizes, one for AFI Tech Park 1 in the hugely competitive Office Project category, and Future Project of the Year for their highly anticipated, mixed-use development AFI Brasov, in Brasov, Romania’s sixth largest city.
Project of the Year award winners were rated according to quality of design, building efficiency, quality of location, environmental concerns and commercial success. In this way, the judges decided that this year’s best retail development was Drumul Taberelor by Ceetrus, and CTP Invest’s CTPark Bucharest West was voted the best industrial Project. CTP also walked away with the Industrial Developer award.
The highly praised Hilton Garden Inn by Apex Alliance in Bucharest won a couple of awards, in the Hotel Development and Refurbishment Project categories. On the residential side, the Residential Development of the Year prize went to ONE Charles de Gaulle in Romania, a project by One United Properties.
Meanwhile, on the investment front, which is increasingly active in Romania, local retail firm Dedeman was recognised by the jury for its acquisition of The Bridge from local developer Forte Partners. This deal was praised and welcomed by the industry as a sign of the market’s increased maturity and depth. Globalworth was awarded Investor of the Year.
The Professional of the Year award went to Revetas Capital’s Eric Assimakopoulos. Revetas Capital is a specialized real estate asset manager with a present focus on Central European Economies. One of its biggest developments in 2018 was the acquisition of TriGranit from TPG Real Estate, the real estate platform of global alternative asset firm TPG.
Accentuating the interest in the SEE region’s retail sector, a number of key retailers were awarded on the night. Newcomer and Fashion Retailer of the Year went to the Turkish firm AC&co, which opened four stores in Romania last year, and has big plans for expanding throughout the region. Specialty Retailer was awarded to Miele and F&B Retailer was received by Amrest’s Starbucks. Retailer of the Year awards were given to retailers active throughout the region based on their market innovation, expansion, contribution to the market, market share, concept and design, and commercial success.
Other major winners for the company awards included UniCredit as Bank of the Year. On the agency side international property advisers CBRE collected Agency of the Year. OPTIM Project Management was recognised by the jury for its expanding business in Romania. The firm picked up two awards in the Architectural and Project Management categories. Construction firm Bog’Art picked up Professional Service Provider of the Year, the Property Management Team of the Year went to Cushman & Wakefield Echinox and the award for Law Firm of the Year went to Wolf Thiess.
Sponsors and Partners for 2018 included: Premier Partners One Untied Properties, S IMMO and Forte Partners. Associate Partners CA IMMO, WDP, CTP, Element Industrial and Stratulat Albulescu. Award Sponsors Bog’Art, Kinnarps, Brisk, Belgrade Waterfront, AC&co, Revetas Capital, Ceres, Studium Green, Zacaria, Optim Project Management and RPHI. Corporate Table Partners AFI Europe and DUAL. Wine Partner S+B Gruppe. Sustainability Partner Build Green. Digital Marketing Services Online Real Assets. Venue Partner Radisson BLU Hotel. Auditor KR Group.
On behalf of our sponsors, judges and attendees, we offer our congratulations to all the winners. Foundations are already in place for next year’s event, which promises to be even bigger.
Full List of Winners for 2018
F&B Retailer
Starbucks
Specialty Retailer
Miele
Fashion Retailer
AC&co
Newcomer
AC&co
Professional Service Provider
Bog’Art
Architectural Firm
Optim Project Management
Law Firm
Wolf Theiss
Project Management Firm
Optim Project Management
Property Management Firm
Cushman & Wakefield Echinox
Agency
CBRE
Bank
UniCredit
Investor
Globalworth
Investment Deal
Dedeman – The Bridge office project
Residential Developer
AFI Europe
Retail Developer
AFI Europe
Industrial Developer
CTP Invest
Office Developer
AFI Europe
Refurbishment Project
Hilton Garden Inn – Apex Alliance – Romania
Hotel Project
Hilton Garden Inn – Apex Alliance – Romania
Residential Project
ONE Charles de Gaulle – One United Properties – Romania
Industrial Project
CTPark Bucharest West – CTP – Romania
Retail Project
Drumul Taberelor – Ceetrus – Romania
Office Project
AFI Tech Park 1 – AFI Europe – Romania
Future Project
AFI Park Brasov – AFI Europe – Romania
Professional of the Year
Eric Assimakopoulos – Revetas Capital