REAL estate services provider CB Richard Ellis (CBRE) found in a recent survey that an increasing number of developers are choosing to place their logistic centres in eastern Slovakia. The developers site favourable land and labour prices in the east, as well as an expectation that a highway connecting the east with the west will soon be completed, the Hospodárske Noviny economic daily wrote.
"Slovakia has seen a record year in the sphere of industrial realties and their further development can be expected," said Peter Janoši, head of the department of industry and logistics at CB Richard Ellis.
Richard Holberton, head of Industry and Logistics research at CBRE company, confirmed this opinion, adding that completed infrastructure would attract investment to regions outside Bratislava.
Last year, there were almost 112,000 square metres of construction in the Bratislava area, while other regions registered 71,000 square metres. But the capital has 18 times as much retail space as the rest of the country.
"The search for suitable regions in the rest of Slovakia has been under way for quite some time," Holberton said.
Currently, a logistics park and store rooms totaling 25,000 square metres are being finished near Nové Mesto nad Váhom. The project by the ProLogis company should be complete by the first quarter of 2008.
According to the CBRE survey, the prices of rentals in the eastern and western parts are of the country are about the same, between €3.5 and €4 per square metre.
But even if the "logistic east" becomes a reality, Holberton doesn't expect it to outshine the Bratislava region.
"We estimate that in the next few years, more than a million square metres of first-class space for industry and logistics can be constructed here," Holberton said.
"Companies need motivation and determination," he continued. "The fact that some companies are coming to these regions will attract others."
