Silesia the center of attention

Last week saw the cream of the real-estate industry in Central And Eastern Europe (CEE) descend on the Intercontinental Hotel in Warsaw to celebrate the CEE Real Estate Quality Awards 2005.

Silesia City Center was carrying the Polish flag high and it picked up the plaudits for retail development of the year, and the overall award for outstanding development of the year.

LPP/Reserved was the only other Polish company to pick up an award, as it was named retailer of the year.

Office development of the year went to Bucharest Business Park, which beat off competition from Riverside Park and Deloitte House in Warsaw, among others. Despite a strong Polish presence in the residential sector, top billing went to Duna Residence in Budapest, which was chosen ahead of Konstancja, Marina Mokotów, the new residence of Queen Marysienka, and Wille Laguna in Warsaw. Prologis missed out in the industrial and logistics development award, which went to Krekshino National Logistics Park in Moscow. Another Moscow development, Swissotel, was named commercial development of the year and the Grand Duke Palais in Vilnius was named best mixed-use development.

The top companies are all familiar names to the industry. Aviva Fund was named best investor, and also picked up a plaudit for outstanding company of the year. Eurohypo Bank was named best banking and finance company and Jones Lang LaSalle took the coveted agency of the year award.

The best developer in 2005 was Orco, with EC Harris picking up commercial services company of the year for the second year in a row, and Strabag was named the top construction firm.

The building design of the year went to Nile House in Prague, which was chosen from a group including Silesia City Center and Deloitte House. Jean Francois Ott, the president of Orco, was named the industry professional of 2005. The founder and chairman of Trigranit, Sandor Demjan, was also given a lifetime achievement award.

Awards are given to real-estate developments, companies active in real estate including investors, banks, developers and commercial service providers, and also to individual professionals active in the industry in CEE. They are awarded to projects completed in 2005, and to companies and individuals based on their performance in the market in 2005. The jury for the competition is made up of the top individuals in real-estate, development, legal and services companies within the industry.