Austrian group CA Immo starts EUR 75 mln development in Bucharest’s new office hotspot

Austrian real estate developer CA Immo will build two office towers near the biggest student campus in Bucharest. Several big office projects are developing in the area, as multinationals keep opening service centers in Romania, and the demand for IT&C specialists has been growing at a rapid pace in recent years. CA Immo will invest a total of EUR 75 million in the two office buildings, which will be located next to the Grozavesti subway station, on the plot of the former Spicul bread factory. The towers will be located near the Regie student campus, and close to the Bucharest Polytechnic University. The project will have a total gross leasable area of 37,000 square meters and includes two towers, H-shaped, inspired by orchid petals, linked together by a bridge enveloped into a glass façade, according to the developer. One of the buildings will have 13 floors and the other - 17 floors. The project includes 406 parking spaces and bicycle storage, as well as showers and changing rooms for the cyclists. Construction group Octagon Contracting & Engineering has already started working on the project, which is programmed to be delivered in 2017. “Our standing office portfolio in Bucharest has been nearly fully let during the recent years. In order to meet the growing demand for office space of our existing tenants, we decided to strengthen our local market position by developing a new office building, meeting all our quality criteria in terms of location and architecture,” said Marian Roman, Managing Director of CA Immo Romania. The group owns five office buildings in Romania with a gross leasable area of 106,000 sqm. “The Central - West area of Bucharest has the potential to become the new office hub of the Capital, as the River Place office buildings that we also hold in this area, already have proven to be a real success, accommodating tenants such as: British American Shared Services Europe, Misys, Ipsos, CGS, Thales, UPC and PTC Eastern Europe,” added Roman. A local developer, Forte Partners, owned by Romanian and Lebanese investors, has also started an office project at Grozavesti, next to the one CA Immo is developing. The project’s first building will have a leasable area of 36,000 sqm and will require a EUR 60 million investment whereas the second phase will raise the total investment to EUR 85 million. Swedish group Skanska also bought recently a land plot near the Politehnica subway station where it plans to develop its second office project in Bucharest. Israeli developer AIF Europe is close to finalizing its fourth and fifth office buildings in the same area, next to the AFI Palace Cotroceni mall. Swedish group Skanska buys new land plot for development in western Bucharest editor@romania-insider.com