The award, sponsored by the Financial Times, will be presented on 3rd March at the 7th annual CEEQA Gala at the Warsaw Royal Castle, the sector's flagship event and main annual industry awards organised by CEE Insight Forum in association with the Financial Times. The aim of CEEQA is to promote the achievements of the sector to the international investment community and the annual event is attended by 500 of the sector’s business leaders, including owners and directors of leading regional and international companies active in the sector.

A total of 19 awards will be announced at the event for the best real estate projects, companies and industry professionals active in the region in 2009, for which judging is currently underway. The Lifetime Achievement award is the only award to be announced in advance of the event, the short list for the remaining 18 awards will be announced in mid-February and the winners of the awards for performance and achievement in CEE real estate in 2009 will be announced at the event on 3rd March.

GTC is one of largest and most successful commercial property developers active in Central in Eastern Europe, active in 10 countries across the region, specialising in the development of large scale retail, office and residential projects that have won numerous awards.

Landmark buildings by GTC include Galeria Mokotów and Platinum Park in Warsaw, Kazimierz Office Center in Kraków (headquarters of State Street in Poland) and Galeria Jurajska – the first modern shopping mall in Czæstochowa, and City Gate – a class A landmark office development in Bucharest.

Eli Alroy was one of the first professionals in the real estate business in Poland. GTC's first project, under Eli Alroy's direction, was the Mokotów Business Park in Warsaw (1996).
Revitalizing this dilapidated post industrial area into the capital's first modern office park required not only entrepreneurship but also a great deal of foresight and courage. At the time of its sale in December 2006 ($ 287m), Mokotów Business Park was the largest office park in Central and Eastern Europe comprising of nine buildings with the total rental area of 107,000 m².

Eli Alroy has played the leading role in the process of transforming GTC from a Polish orientated company into an international corporation and one of the leading developers in the CEE region. In the late nineties GTC started its expansion in Hungary and Romania followed by the Czech Republic, Serbia, Croatia, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Russia and Ukraine.

Commenting on the award, Eli Alroy said: “This is an unexpected and treasured honour, to be recognised by my peers for doing something I enjoy. Central & Eastern Europe is a very exciting market place, and it’s a great privilege for all of us at GTC to be involved in a tangible transformation of the built environment and facilities, which are vital to future growth and prosperity.”

Previous winners of the CEEQA Lifetime Achievement award are Eugene Golub (founder and President of Golub & Co and Quinlan Private Golub), David Mitzner (founder and President of Apollo Rida), Cor van Zadelhoff (founder of DTZ Zadelhoff), Sandor Demjan (founder and Chairman of TriGranit Development Corporation) John Cutts (founder and Chairman of Parkridge Holdings) and Werner Otto (founder and Honorary Chairman of ECE Projektmanagement).

Source: GTC