DHL, First Logistics Client to Move to Panattoni Park Cheb
Panattoni Europe and Accolade, a Czech real estate group, will build a warehousing and distribution premises 13,600 square metres in size in Panattoni Park Cheb for the German company DHL, a global leader in the market for international transport and logistics services. The developer, Panattoni Europe, started the construction work just a few weeks after the Cheb Town Council approved the sale of the land to the Accolade Group. The Accolade Group finances the project and, as the future owner, it will lease the premises to DHL on a long-term basis. Thanks to the project, jobs will be created for around 200 people in and around Cheb. CBRE property advisors assisted DHL to enter the Panattoni Park in Cheb.
“We’ll be building the new hall for DHL over winter at an altitude of 450 metres above sea level and therefore it will be a challenging task to plan the work and apply proper construction technologies. The building is to be completed and delivered to the client in mid May next year,” says Pavel Sovička, Managing Director of Panattoni Europe for the Czech Republic and Slovakia, and he adds that “after BWI, which plans to make components for the auto industry, the Zone thus wins another major client.”
“The building currently under construction for DHL will be worth 250 million crowns. We have a future lease contract with DHL, to whom we’ll lease the hall for a five years,” explains Milan Kratina, Chairman of Accolade Group’s Board of Directors. “We expect this to be the first part of more extensive construction in the industrial zone. Further segments will follow as further tenants come on board,” says Kratina, adding that DHL chose Cheb because of the availability of skilled workforce and the good transport infrastructure, connecting the area, in particular, with Germany.
“This project follows the previous one within a matter of months, which indicates that our town has a good long-term development strategy. We made a good decision focusing on close cooperation with the Accolade Group and with Panattoni Europe. Interest in the zone is great, prompting us to negotiate further possible expansion of the Park with the Karlovy Vary Regional Authority,” says Petr Navrátil, Mayor of Cheb.
Miroslav Nenutil, Senator representing the districts of Cheb and Tachov, notes that the Cheb district alone has more than three thousand unemployed. “Two hundred new jobs is very good news to the region. Support for employment is one of our key priorities on a long-term basis. Until quite recently, the Cheb and Tachov districts were among those with the highest unemployment rates but we have changed it for the better,” says Miroslav Nenutil with satisfaction.
The Cheb Municipality entered into a reservation agreement with the Accolade Group for the second part of the industrial zone in 2013. A manufacturing plant is already being built on the land prepared by Accolade and Panattoni Europe for the Chinese company BWI, manufacturer of automotive suspension systems.
Recently the Panattoni Europe developer company and the Accolade Group have jointly completed two major industrial projects: one in Panattoni Park Stříbro for KION Group making forklift trucks, and the other in Panattoni Park Rychnov nad Kněžnou for Simoldes Plasticos, which makes automotive components. In these two cases the new manufacturing halls were nominated for the prestigious CIJ and Best of Realty awards.