PRAGUE 22 February 2024 - The assets of the WOOD & Company real estate fund will be newly expanded by the office building Concept Tower in Warsaw. WOOD & Company will acquire it from CPIPG. The building has 9,000 sqm of office space and is fully leased. It is the second office building on the Polish market and the twelfth asset of the Office sub-fund, which focuses on office buildings in the main cities of the CEE region. It has long been one of the most successful funds in this segment in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, with an average annual return of 11.35% in the Czech crown class since its establishment.
"We see a similar trend in the Warsaw office real estate market as in other European countries, where construction was drastically reduced after the pandemic. As of the end of September 2023, 91% fewer square metres of office space had been delivered to the Warsaw market than in the same period of the previous year. Despite this trend, we still see the demand for office space as strong and stable," says Jiří Hrbáček, Portfolio Manager and Deputy Chairman of the Board of WOOD & Company Real Estate Fund. At the end of Q3 2023, the supply of office space in Warsaw stood at 6.2 million sqm. The Polish real estate market is one of the largest in Central and Eastern Europe with impressive development dynamics and high liquidity.
The Concept Tower office building is located in the dynamically developing Wola district, close to the city centre and with excellent transport links to other Warsaw districts. There is a metro station in close proximity, as well as bus and tram stops, many shops, restaurants and services. The 15-storey building was built in 2012 and has 9,000 sqm of lettable space. "The building is currently fully occupied with a very favourable mix of 25 tenants. The larger ones include the Polish-German Chamber of Commerce and BCD Travel," Hrbáček adds. The building falls within the A+ class of office building classification and is LEED Gold certified. The glass façade ensures a constant supply of daylight, and the high design standards of the common areas provide the necessary comfort.
"We have been focusing more on the Polish real estate market in the last few years. Warsaw has the fastest growing market in the office segment in Central and Eastern Europe and the potential for acquiring attractive assets with high investment potential is naturally higher here than in, for example, the Czech Republic or Slovakia. The purchase of the second building in the Office sub-fund is fully in line with our strategy of portfolio diversification," Hrbáček comments and adds: “In addition to the completed acquisition of the Concept Tower, our team is currently finalising the first investment of the new WOOD & Company Logistics sub-fund, which we announced last autumn."
WOOD & Company Real estate fund acquires the property from CPIPG. Greenberg Traurig assisted on the sale side, while Colliers, Dentons and TPA represented the buyer side.