Quality rewarded at CIJ Awards Serbia/SEE 2018 in Belgrade
The third CIJ Awards Serbia/SEE took place in Belgrade this week at the Hyatt hotel with a multinational crowd on hand to cheer on the winners. Serbia has been the focus of an increasing level of investment into real estate, including industrial, retail and residential projects. The results of this wave of investment is now making itself felt in the country with increasing numbers of high quality projects hitting the market.
Among those to be nominated for prizes this year at the CIJ Awards was the Hilton Belgrade, which won the Best City/Resort Hotel Development for 2018 in a year when there was significant competition from other hotel projects. Adding to the quality of life for Serbians was the Brixwell project Internacionalnih brigada 48 which won Best Family Residential Development. On the other end of the scale, Porto Montegero by Adriatic Marinas was the recipient of the Best Luxury Residential Project. In fact, the same company returned to the stage twice more, first for winning Best Overall Residential Developer and finally for producing the Best PR & Marketing Campaign.
NEPI, which is busy across the region's property markets, won the Best Retail Development thanks to its project Novi Sad Promenada, while another rapidly expanding regional powerhouse, CTP won the Best Warehouse / Logistics Developer for 2018. CTP lost out in the Best Warehouse/Logistics Development to LIDL Serbia KD, but returned to collect a second prize for Best Land Transaction on the strenght of a deal it completed in Novi Sad.
But the biggest winner of the night was GTC. Not only did it win the Best Future Development for its scheme Green Heart, and Best Retail Lease for bringing Forever 21 to Ada Mall, but its deal at Green Heart with Nordeus was judged to have been the Best Office Deal of the year. These are undoubtedly the reasons why the final prize to land on the walls of the GTC office in Serbia was for Best Overall Commercial Developer. MPC Holding's deal for Mercator Shopping Center won the Best Investment Transaction statuette.
Along with the project and developer honors, there were still a number of company categories to announce winners for. These included Konstruktor Konstalting for Best Constructor and Atrium Consulting which was chosen as the Best Facility Management company, with the Best Project Management services this year being provided by Optim Project Management. Confluence Property Management then won in its core service category and enjoyed the added prestige of having Ivana Maksimovic of its team decorated with the title of Best Female Real Estate Leadership, a new category for the CIJ Awards.
CBS International (part of Cushman & Wakefield Group) made two trips to the stage. The first time was for Best Country Power Broker Team, while its return trip was to collect the prize for Best Local/Residential Power Broker Team. Colliers International, meanwhile, won Best International Power Broker Team. Finally, the Best Tax & Financial Advisory company for 2018 was TPA Serbia and ERSTE Bank seized the day with victory in the Best Real Estate Bank prize. CMS completed the evening by winning Best Real Estate Law Firm.
