Spanish real estate developer Hercesa recently finalized work on the historic building Hotel Cismigiu downtown Bucharest, after three years and investments of EUR 15 million. The 100-year old building on Regina Elisabeta boulevard, which used to host a hotel and the Gambrinus brewery, will become a mix project, with retail spaces at the ground floor, offices on the mezzanine and the first floor, and a four-star apart-hotel on the second to fifth floors.

“We had to solve many technical issues, given the fact that it was not a simple building consolidation, but a completely new construction which kept the facade,” said Mauricio Mesa Gomez, general manager of Hercesa Internacional for Romania and Bulgaria.

Part of the ground floor, the mezzanine and the first floor were already leased to the Cervantez Institute in Bucharest, and some 1,000 sqm are still for rent.

Hercesa entered the Romanian market in 2004 by acquiring the 9,700 sqm Hotel Cismigiu building, where it hopes to bring a coffee shop operator, as well as a company that would revive the Gambrinus beer brand.

While working on the Cismigiu project, Hercesa finalized a residential project called Vivenda Residencias, with 420 apartments. It plans to build 5,100 apartments within Ghencea compound, Estellas Residencias and a phase two of Vivenda Residencias.

editor@romania-insider.com