Cushman & Wakefield won two out of the four awards open to property advisers at the European Property Awards 2006 held in Munich. The global property consultant took home the European Office Agency Team of the Year and European Retail/Leisure Agency Team of the Year. The European Property Awards are organized by Property Week, Immobilien Zeitung, Expo Real and CoreNet Global. In addition, the firm was also voted the best real estate agency in the Czech Republic by readers of the Construction Investment Journal, Central and Eastern Europe's top real estate publication.

RECOGNITION

Steven Davis, Senior Vice President of Orco Property Group, was awarded Personality of the Year in the 2006 Construction & Investment Journal Awards. The Czech Construction & Investment Journal Awards for 2006 took place at the Hotel InterContinental in Prague Nov. 30.

CENTER

The Avalon Business Centre, a new 22,000-square-meter administrative and commercial complex being built in the center of Plzeň, west Bohemia, will be completed in spring 2007. There will be 10,700 square meters (115,174 square feet) worth of office space available. The complex will also come with 185 parking spaces. The main project investor is Expandia, and the co-investor and project manager is the ACRED Group. The designer is architecture company Arch.Design.

FAIR

The second annual "Real Vienna" trade show will take place May 23-25. The focus of the trade fair will be on South and East European countries. Of the 21 countries that attended the fair in 2006, 16 were Central and South European counties, according to statistics provided by event organizers. In addition, 40 percent of those visiting the Vienna fair where from outside the country. This year's event will be held at Vienna's trade fair center MessezentrumWienNeu.

LEASE

Slough Estates International has preleased a 5,000-square-meter warehouse unit to logistics giant Kuehne + Nagel. The unit is part of Slough's new warehousing project, which is under construction at Prague's Tulipán Park. The current phase of development comprises some 15,000 square meters of warehouse space plus 2,000 square meters of office and ancillary areas and is due for delivery in February 2007.

CONSTRUCTION

National Technological Park begun construction on a new modern logistic park called D8 European Park. The project site is located in Kozomín, along the D8 motorway. The building is anticipated to be completed in the third quarter of 2007. The interior layout may be adjusted to tenants' specific requirements. The size of the offices and additional space may be adjusted according to the final technical specifications.

DEVELOPMENT

Orco Germany acquired the site in the center of Berlin that used to be the Wertheim complex. This new development will fill the most important gap between the centers of East and West Berlin. With a land area of more than 22,000 square meters, the project will be carried out directly on Leipziger Platz right next to Potsdamer Platz. Viterra Development, a subsidiary of Orco Germany, will be responsible for the project management.

HIRE

Martijn Kanters, 35, has joined DTZ Prague as the associate director of consulting and research. He has worked in real estate since 2000, first at Kolpron CZ, where he focused on real estate market analysis and feasibility studies. He was the assistant project manager in 2002 of the first Brownfield Regeneration project in the Czech Republic, acting as an adviser to CzechInvest. During 2003 and 2004, he was based in the Netherlands, but traveled extensively through Central and Eastern Europe.

PARTNERSHIP

ORCO Property Group has formed a partnership with Arboeko, one of the largest Czech companies active in the production, sale and distribution of ornamental trees and plants. Under this partnership, 4,488 trees of 36 different species will be planted in special "ORCO tree nurseries" in and around Mělník, just north of Prague, over the next seven years. Planting will start this spring. These trees will be used in future Orco projects, including the Benice Village development, which will be located in Benice, which is close to Prague and near the Průhonice shopping center.