HomeCEEQA 2025 REVIEW: The winners, the dinner, the giants of chess

CEEQA 2025 REVIEW: The winners, the dinner, the giants of chess

AFI Europe, Star Capital Finance, Crestyl, Cushman & Wakefield, Zeitgeist Asset Management and Archicom were dominant in the awards at the 2025 edition of CEEQA, the CEE & SEE real estate sector’s flagship annual gathering and industry awards as 600 guests dined, partied and played chess deep into the night at Wyscigi in Warsaw. Among other major successes Sentient and AXI Immo both celebrated a hat trick of successes over the past three years as Development services company of the year and Local agent of the year respectively.

King and queen of chess team up

Chess was the dominant theme of the night with guest appearances by Judit Polgar and Garry Kasparov, the two greatest of all time female and male chess players in history.

Mark Noetzel of NEPI Rockcastle, crowned Investor of the year in the awards, delighted the crowd by delivering a solid game as black against a blindfolded Judit Polgar at the chessboard on stage during the awards ceremony.

After dinner Polgar further demonstrated her greatest-of-all-time status by defeating challengers five at a time in the event’s Chess Room, where Polish chess master Aleksandra Tarnowska held court against all-comers all evening up to five opponents at a time without losing a game!

The most famous chess legend of all, widely regarded the best human to ever play chess, an now a prominent Russian political dissident in exile and an important commentator on Russia and critic of Putin, Garry Kasparov joined online to entertain guests and deliver a fiery message in support of Ukraine.

Moscow has recently declared Kasparov a terrorist and sponsor of terrorism.

The people

In the awards, the star turn of the night was the coronation of Remon Vos, founder and CEO of Czech-born international warehouse giant CTP, for the Lifetime achievement in real estate award. Assisting with the presentation were the award sponsor Generali Real Estate’s Ramon Spoladore, and former recipient Hadley Dean of MDC2.

The Rising star industry professional award went to Bence Sass of Hungarian developer WING, and Agnieszka Stankiewicz of law firm Greenberg Traurig was named Industry Professional of the year.

The buildings

Polish developer Archicom’s Browary Wrocławskie in Wrocław landed the awards for Building of the year CEE and Retail development of the year. Building of the year SEE was AFI Europe’s AFI Home Skyline in Belgrade, while AFI was also named Developer of the year.

Zeitgeist’s Palac Dunaj was the jury’s Office development of the year CEE as well as outstanding ESG Champion building. In the Hotel & leisure development category W Hotel Prague was successful.

Czech developer Crestyl had two buildings recognised by the CEEQA Jury. with Palace Savarin earning the award for Retail development of the year and Gamma Hagibor Residence taking home the Residential development of the year award. Crestyl was also named the sector’s ESG Champion company.

The companies and the deals

AFI Europe lifted the title of Developer of the year and NEPI Rockcastle was crowned Investor of the Year, while Panattoni took home the statue for Industrial developer of the year.

Austrian bank Erste Group landed the Lender of the year title and global law firm Dentons was named Legal & financial services firm of the year.

Star Capital Finance received the overall Company of the year award and was also successful in the Rising star company, and Portfolio deal of the year category for its acquisition of the Cromwell portfolio.

The best in class Single asset deal of the year was for the Warsaw Unit acquisition by Eastnine from Ghelamco.

Sentient celebrated its third win in a row as Development services company of the year and STRABAG was successful in the Construction company of the year category.

In the Agent Awards section global advisory firm Cushman & Wakefield was named Capital markets agent of the year as well as overall Agent of the year as well as picking up the Property management company of the year title.

Jury dinner and Live Connect

Key to making the CEEQA awards of value and meaningful to the market is the calibre and composition of the jury combined with the diligence and integrity of the judging process across three rounds of nominations and voting. A regular refrain among leaders of the sector with an international remit is that there is no equally trustable industry recognition or higher quality gala anywhere in the world, a bonus plus for the CEE & SEE real estate market place.

This year’s CEEQA Jury gathered as usual on the even of the CEEQA Gala to decide the final winners in 27 categories over dinner at the Bristol Hotel in Warsaw. The meeting was preceded by a special Live Connect meeting involving Ukraine and CEE leaders to discuss ongoing challenges presented by the Russian invasion, continued market activity and the prospect of and possibilities of cooperation for the post-war rebuild of Ukraine when the time eventually arrives.

Russia must lose: Kasparov

Chess legend and outspoke critic of Putin and Russia, Garry Kasparov, joined online to air his forthright views on the solution: Ukraine must win and Russia must lose, he said, if there is to be any hope of lasting peace and stability in Ukraine and Europe. “It’s not a game of chess, it’s a game of poker,” he said, “with no possibility of a draw.”

Looking forward

As the dust settles on CEEQA 2025 the date has already been set for the next edition to take place on 20 May 2026, save the date now.

Following recovery from a brutal pandemic the CEEQA Gala and sector awards reaffirmed its place as the pre-eminent industry showcase and annual gathering for sector leaders in the CEE and SEE real estate market place, and and important market showcase for the sector.

LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT IN REAL ESTATE:
Remon Vos

GRAND AWARDS
COMPANY OF THE YEAR Star Capital Finance
Building of the year CEE: Browary Wrocławskie by Archicom
Building of the year SEE: AFI Home Skyline by AFI Europe
Rising star industry professional of the year: Bence Sass of WING
Industry professional of the year: Agnieszka Stankiewicz of Greenberg Traurig

BUILDING AWARDS
Office development of the year: Palac Dunaj by ZEITGEIST Asset Management
Retail development of the year: Palace Savarin by Crestyl
Mixed use development of the year: Browary Wrocławskie by Archicom
Residential development of the year: Gamma Hagibor Residence by Crestyl
Hotel & leisure development of the year: W Prague by Ferid Nasir & Marriott International

TRANSACTION AWARDS
Single asset deal of the year: Warsaw UNIT by Eastnine & Ghelamco
Portfolio deal of the year: Cromwell portfolio by Star Capital Finance & Cromwell Property Group

AGENT AWARDS
Local agent of the year: AXI IMMO Group
Capital markets agent of the year: Cushman & Wakefield
Agent of the year: Cushman & Wakefield

COMPANY AWARDS
Developer of the year: AFI Europe
Industrial developer of the year: Panattoni
Investor of the year: NEPI Rockcastle
Lender of the year: Erste Group
Legal & financial consulting firm of the year: Dentons
Construction company of the year: STRABAG
Development services company of the year: Sentient
Property management company of the year: Cushman & Wakefield
Rising star company of the year: Star Capital Finance