Commercial Investment Real Estate March/April 2018 | Page 44

INTERNATIONAL
B E AT
Union Investment recently bought the Magnolia
Wroclaw, Poland’s
BIG DEAL
Park shopping center in Wroclaw, Poland, for
approximately $448 million from Blackstone. Built
in 2007 and expanded in 2015, Magnolia Park
encompasses more than 1 million square feet and
is almost fully leased, with 241 retail stores. It is a
premier shopping destination, with 11 million visi-
tors annually, and is one of 10 shopping centers
in Poland. This purchase is for Union Investment’s
real estate fund Unilmmo: Europa. In addition to
Magnolia Park, Union Investment owns six other
cities: Katowice, Lodz, Rybnik, Bielsko-Biala, and
Gdynia Konin.
Online Shopping in
Europe Accelerates
94% growth in
online sales
by 2021
69% increase in
parcel deliveries across
Europe by 2021
Source: Cushman & Wakefield
74%
Unique Buyers
94%
69%
Absolute
Measures
(50%)
% Institutional
Investment
% Global Cross-
Border Capital
% Global
Market Maker
74% of Europe’s
population live in
urban areas
Volume
Relative
Measures
(50%)
Capital
Liquidity
Scores
Measure
the Global
Investment
% Zone
Market Maker
Source: Real Capital Analytics
Global Markets to Watch Despite the cloud of Brexit, commercial real estate
thrived in London during 2017, with 75 percent of the city’s office transactions closed by global buyers. Of those
international purchases, 90 percent were Chinese investors, followed by capital from the Middle East, according
to U.K. Real Estate research report by CMS, an international law firm. “Transaction volumes in London have been
steady over the past year, with a string of high-profile acquisitions and no sign yet of the exodus from the city that
many predicted,” says Ciaran Carvalho, head of real estate at CMS U.K. in London.
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March | April 2018
COMMERCIAL INVESTMENT REAL ESTATE
shopping centers in Poland’s secondary market