Other big winners on the night were Griffin Real Estate with awards for overall Company of the Year having already landed the award for Rising Star as nearly 700 regional and international real estate leaders from more than 50 countries gathered to celebrate the successes and success stories of the New Europe property sector during the past calendar year, and legendary soul funk band Hot Chocolate lit up a night of outstanding entertainment and hospitality (more info on www.ceeqa.com/2015/winners).
The awards ceremony was opened by Pawel Tamborski, President of the Warsaw Stock Exchange [more info on www.ceeqa.com/2015/gala]. One of the biggest highlights of the evening was a live interview during the awards ceremony with sector legend David Mitzner, Holocaust survivor, Russian Gulag survivor and deal maker extraordinaire who turns 100 this month [more info on www.ceeqa.com/2015/mitzner100], previous recipient of the 2005 CEEQA award for Lifetime Achievement in Real Estate, who was presented with another unique award for Double Lifetime Achievement having reached an even more important milestone, in a live video link from his base in Houston.
The sector’s most prestigious industry awards are for business performance and achievement across 18 countries in Central & Eastern Europe and Southeast Europe and are organised in association with the Financial Times to recognise business excellence in commercial real estate investment and to showcase the achievements of the sector to the international investment arena, including the best buildings, companies and industry professionals. The awards are judged by a panel of senior representatives of market leading companies active across the New Europe arena and voting across all the awards is supervised by globally trusted consultant Deloitte.
Among the big winners on the night were the CPI’s Quadrio mixed use scheme in Prague with Overall Building of the Year SEE and AFI Europe’s AFI Park 2&3 which was named overall Building of the Year SEE, while Eiffel Palace in Budapest (Horizon Development) was named best office project, Atrium Felicity (Atrium European Real Estate) was named best retail project and the Hilton Kiev (Saint Sophia Homes) took best hotel, leisure & residential building – the second successive year this award has gone to a Ukrainian development.
Having won the 2015 award for RealGreen Building of the Year, Portland Trust’s Floreasca Park went one better with the overall Green Leadership Award. In the company and agent awards sections HB Reavis Group (Developer), Panattoni Europe (Industrial Developer), P3 Logistic Parks (Investor), Helaba (Lender), Dentons (Legal & Financial Services), Arcadis (Development Services) and Skanska (Construction), JLL (Retail Agency) and Colliers International (Industrial Agency) were also successful.
Guests at the event raised nearly 20,000 euros for the Polish charity Funacja Dziecieca Fantazja [Foundation for Children’s Dreams] working to light up the lives of Polish children who suffer from terminal illnesses or life limiting conditions by making their dreams and wishes come true.
Other entertainment on the evening included performances by acrobatic dance group Red Pop Dance Creator, rising Polish stars Kuba & Sabina, celebrated Polish brass orchestra Dziubek Band and stalwart pianist Albert Kurowski who has played at every CEEQA Gala since its inception.
