Booking Holdings to open excellence center in Bucharest

Booking Holdings Inc., the provider of online travel and related services, leased 8,000 sqm in the first phase of the U Center office project in Bucharest for its inaugural center of excellence, developer Forte Partners announced.

The center serves as a hub for specialized and highly skilled talent, industry best practices, software development and collaboration opportunities across cybersecurity, IT and finance functions for Booking Holdings and its various brands and business units, including Booking.com, Priceline, Agoda, KAYAK, OpenTable and Rentalcars.com, the company said.

With the signing of this transaction, the office space in the first phase of U Center, with a gross leasable area (GLA) of over 32,000 sqm, is 100% leased.

The first phase of the U Center office project was completed in Q3 2021. Construction works on the second phase of the project started in the second half of 2021. The two phases of U Center have a GLA of 63,000 sqm, including a retail component on the ground floors. U Center is located on Calea Șerban Vodă, a short distance from Tineretului metro station, close to Tineretului and Carol Parks.

"This transaction will generate several hundred new quality jobs in Bucharest, and we are not only proud to have contributed to its completion, but we are also confident in the local office market, which is attracting more and more Fortune 500 companies, putting Romania on par with more mature markets in the CEE region," Alina Calciu, Head of Advisory & Transaction Services | Occupier CBRE Romania, explained. "In addition, it is a very good indicator for 2022 that we are closing a deal in January that represents 10% of the total new and expansion demand last year."

(Photo: Vlad Pătru, courtesy of the company)