19-storey office building in downtown Bucharest closer to demolition for lack of permits

The Bucharest Court rejected, in a first ruling in the case, the request filed by the owner of Cathedral Plaza – Millenium Business Development, which insists on having declared as legal the 19-storey office building erected with no legal permits close to St. Joseph Cathedral in downtown Bucharest, back in 206-2010.

Millenium asked in court in 2013 to force Bucharest's mayor to re-establish the legal status of the building, and the Bucharest Court issued the ruling ten years after.

The case has lingered during the terms of Social Democrat mayors Sorin Oprescu and Gabriela Firea, but reformist mayor Nicusor Dan issued the demolition order for the building in July 2022. The order was, however, suspended by the Bucharest Court pending the ruling of the request placed by Millenium.

Cathedral Plaza is an office building built between 2006 and 2010, owned by Millenium Business Development and valued at approximately EUR 100 mln.

Israeli billionaire Eyal Ofer, who developed the project through Willbrook, said at his 2011 visit to Romania that the market value of the building was EUR 70 mln. Economica.net reported in 2013 that the office tower was bought from Eyal Ofer by Ioannis Papalekas, who founded Globalworth, the company with the most office buildings in Romania.

(Photo source: Albertophotography/Dreamstime.com)