GTC wins big at 2nd CIJ Awards Serbia

The second annual CIJ Awards Serbia took place at the Hyatt Regency Belgrade before an enthusiastic crowd of the country's most important property professionals and companies. The upbeat mood of the audience was matched by the quality of the nominated projects on offer, as the Serb economy is growing faster than it has done in years. Nearly a dozen awards categories were decided through a combination of Jury voting and votes from on-line voters. The results were revealed at the prize giving ceremony that followed a four-course dinner served in the hotel's Crystal room.
The first of the prizes to be presented were announced by jury member Nebojsa Nesovanovic (JLL), who opened the project category envelopes. The Best Office Development and Developer awards plaque went to the third phase of GTC's scheme 41. This set the pattern for the evening, with GTC managing director Pedja Petronijevic coming on stage to accept the first of several prizes. But before he was recalled to be handed the plaque for Leading Green Building Development and Developer, MPC Properties' director Thomas Villadsen was called upon to accept the award for Best Retail Development and Developer thanks to its new Shoppi Retail Park. The last of the envelopes that Nesovanovic opened was for the Investment Transaction of the Year, which honored the deal in which GTC acquired a modern A class office building in Belgrade.
Following this were a series of company and personal awards, beginning with the Real Estate Services category. For the second straight year, Gabriela Tegeltija, Head of Real Estate Section at UniCredit Bank found herself giving an acceptance speech for winning Best Bank of the Year. Best Law Firm of 2017, on the other hand, went to Bojovic & Partners. Four companies competed for Best Project Management Company for 2017, but the winner was Mace Group. A quartet of nominations was also received for Best Property Management Company, with the winning name that emerged from that envelope being that of Confluence Property Management.
It remained to hand out the Real Estate Teams and Leaders plaques. The Best Tax and Financial Team was judged to have been PWC, while the honors for Best Commercial Power Broker Team were bestowed upon JLL. Given how the evening had gone up until this point, the loud applause and cheering for the winner of the Best Leadership of the Year prize was highly appropriate, as it was won by Pedja Petronijevic.
CIJ Awards Serbia is organized by Roberts Publishing Media Group, the region's leading provider of property news and analysis through its magazine CIJ, Encompassme and CIJ social media.