The Czech real estate fund Investika has acquired the Galerie Butovice shopping center in Prague 5 from Cromwell Property Group. Cromwell acquired the under-performing mall five years ago and undertook a major reconstruction of the building. The work included the construction of a new food court, the replacement of escalators and installing new ones to improve vertical access to each floor. But the owner also added a 15,000 sqm store for the furniture store Kika, a move that helped drive visitor numbers to the site especially on weekends. Cushman & Wakefield advised Cromwell through this process and represented the company during the sale. For Investika, which was represented by CBRE, this was its first retail acquisition. “This significantly improves our sector diversification where the office sector had a majority up to now,” says Václav Kovář, the fund’s portfolio manager and a member of the board.
