Money Buzz! Europa

Category: Office

  • AEW sells America House and Promenada Mall Targu Mures to Indotek

    AEW has completed the sale of America House office building located in Piaţa Victoriei, Bucharest and Promenada Mall, the largest shopping center in Targu Mures. AEW entered Romania in 2007, by purchasing America House from Globe Trade Center (GTC), followed by Promenada Mall Targu Mures from BelRom a few months later.

    The transactions mark the official entry of both incoming investors on the Romanian real estate market.

    A fund advised by Morgan Stanley Real Estate Investing, a global private real estate investment management arm of Morgan Stanley with approximately £40 billion of gross real estate assets under management, in a joint venture with David Hay, former CEO of AFI Europe Romania, has purchased America House, while Indotek, a group of investment management companies owned by American and Hungarian shareholders, has acquired Promenada Mall Targu Mures.

    The seller was advised by a team consisting of Clifford Chance Badea, the local office of the global law firm Clifford Chance, providing legal support, Cushman & Wakefield Echinox, who managed the sale process of America House and JLL, who co-ordinated the sale of Promenada Mall. The two deals were carried out concurrently.

    America House, landmark building in Bucharest

    America House is a landmark building on the Bucharest office market, the largest one in the Piaţa Victoriei area, with a rentable area of approximately 28,000 square meters. The tenant portfolio includes companies such as Schlumberger, Ţuca Zbârcea & Asociaţii, McDonald’s, the Embassy of Japan and Mastercard, also benefiting from one of the largest retail areas in an office project.

    The retail spaces cover approximately 4,000 square meters and house World Class, Starbucks, McDonald’s, Cooperativa FruFru and Cărturesti units, thus providing the tenants with a wealth of amenities.

    Promenada Mall Targu Mures, largest shopping center in the county

    Promenada Mall Targu Mures is the largest shopping center in Mures County, in the center of Romania, with a rentable area of approximately 50,000 square meters. With more than 80 brands, 8 cinema screens, restaurants, coffee shops and other entertainment facilities, Promenada’s offer is well balanced and diversified.

    It is anchored by Auchan, Leroy Merlin, Decathlon, Hervis, H&M, LC Waikiki, New Yorker, Deichmann, Takko, CCC, Pepco, Cinema City, Media Galaxy.

  • Veeam Software increases its office space by 50%

    Veeam Software expands with additional 2,300 sqm in Business Garden Bucharest, to accommodate its growing team in Romania. The company has planned to increase its staff by 50% this year, thus reaching 600 employees at the end of 2019, compared to 400 at the beginning of the year.

    The new office space, located in a modern A+ building recently built in the proximity of the Grozavesti area, adds 250 working stations to cater the expansion of Veeam’s Romanian team in the following three years. Together with the 3 floors occupied in AFI Park 5, Veeam Software reaches almost 7,500 sqm in Romania.   

    “We have grown locally at a very fast pace, evolving from zero to a company with over 400 people in only 3 years. Expanding our working space was a natural step, as we plan on continuing to grow our local team, by adding valuable, talented people to our hub. Veeam Software differentiates through the career path approach available to our team members. As such, they can build an end-to-end career, following all phases of a product lifecycle: from marketing to sales, finance and technical support. We are committed to offering our employees a clear path to grow and develop within the company, by providing them with constant opportunities to evolve and acquire new skills. As a result, over 20% of our employees have been promoted, either vertically or horizontally since we started our operations in Romania”, said Andrei Romanescu, Managing Director Veeam Software Romania.

    The continuous local growth and expansion is in line with the strong results of the mother company. Veeam Sotfware has just reported a 26% YoY increase in global annual recurring revenue for Q2 2019, while it has recently exceeded $1bn in annual bookings.

    Being named among the top 3 most vibrant workplaces by ABSL (The Association of Business Service Leaders in Romania) and shortlisted for the Romania Insider Employer of the Year award, the Romanian branch of Veeam Software is the largest Veeam hub in Europe. It nurtures a multicultural work environment, gathering 17 different nationalities that speak 19 different languages.

  • 2019 will be a record year for the Bucharest office market

    The Bucharest office market could have a record year in terms of deliveries in 2019, provided that all the announced projects are finalized on time, a scenario in which modern office spaces with a total area of ​​about 377,000 square meters will have been delivered in the capital city, according to data from the Cushman & Wakefield Echinox real estate consultancy company.

    In the first half of the year, 128,000 square meters have been delivered, consisting of the Renault Bucharest Connected, The Mark, Oregon Park C, The Bridge II, Office 1 and Mihai Eminescu Offices projects. In the second half of 2019 the volume of deliveries could be double, the most important projects being Business Garden (41,000 sq. m), Ana Tower (41,000 sq. m), Expo Business Park (38,000 sq. m), Globalworth Campus III (35,000 sq. m), The Light I (23,000 sq. m), Timpuri Noi Square 1b (20,000 sq. m) and Equilibrium I (19,000 sq. m), along with a number of other smaller buildings.

    Historically, 2009 has been the best year for the local office market in terms of deliveries, when developers finalized new buildings with an area of ​​about 322,000 square meters, which came after another very good year (2008), with over 300,000 square meters delivered in total. The most important projects delivered in 2009 were BOC, Global City Business Park, Floreasca Business Park and Cubic Center, at a time when developers were especially active in the Pipera area, while the development of the Floreasca – Barbu Văcărescu office hub was just commencing.

    Mădălina Cojocaru, Partner, Office Agency Cushman & Wakefield Echinox: “The 2019 deliveries come after two years with a consistent demand, but with a lower level of deliveries: projects with a leasable area of ​​138,000 and 145,000 square meters were completed in 2017 and 2018 respectively. The new projects have been successful in terms of early securing important anchor tenants: financial groups such as ING, Erste – BCR, Allianz or the PricewaterhouseCoopers professional services firm, in an extremely dynamic market, where demand is at a record level. Taking into account the buildings about to be delivered, we can affirm that the office stock in Bucharest reached the 3 million square meters threshold, out of which 1 million square meters have been built between 2014 and 2019.”

    In H1 2019, transactions totaling 196,000 square meters of office spaces have been closed, the largest ones involving Ericsson (16,000 sq. m at West Gate), eMag (15,000 sq. m at Swan Office Park), ING Tech (13,000 sq. m at Dacia One) and Allianz (9,000 sq. m at Globalworth Campus).

    There has also been a slight increase of the headline rents for the office spaces located in the CBD area, where the premium buildings are rented at a level between 17.5 and 19 euro / sq. m / month, while in the Central – North area they reach values between 15.5 – 17 euro / sq. m / month.

  • The competition for quality real estate assets intensifies

    The investment volume in H1 2019 amounted to almost 410 million euros, a 6% increase compared to the similar period of last year, when the corresponding figure for investment transactions was of 386 million euros, according to Cushman & Wakefield Echinox calculations and estimates.

    At the Central and Eastern European (CEE) level, the Romanian market attracted around 10% of the total investment volume of 4.1 billion euros recorded in Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria.

    The first place was occupied by the Czech Republic (1.9 billion euros, with a share of 45%), which surpassed Poland, the country where an investment volume of about 1.3 billion euros (31%) was registered. Romania ranked 3rd, surpassing Hungary (7%), Slovakia (5%) and Bulgaria (2%).

    At the local level, the most active sector was again the office sector, with a share of 53% of the total volume, followed by retail (28%), while the industrial and logistics sector had a share of 18%. In regards to georgraphical distribution, Bucharest attracted 40% of the total real estate investments in Romania, being followed by Cluj-Napoca with 32%, while the other transactions were concluded in several cities.

    The most important transaction, in Cluj Napoca

    The largest transaction in terms of value was concluded by Dedeman, which purchased The Office project in Cluj-Napoca, with a total rentable area of ​​63,000 sqm, for 130 million euros, from NEPI Rockcastle and Mulberry Development.

    This transaction marks the consolidation of Dedeman’s portfolio, which is becoming an increasingly important player on the local office market. By acquiring The Bridge project, Dedeman had also made the largest transaction on the Romanian real estate market in 2018.

    Another important transaction was the one related to Oregon Park C in the Floreasca-Barbu Vacarescu area, the last building of the Oregon Park project, which was sold by Portland Trust to Lion’s Head Investments for an estimated 60 million euros.

    When it comes to the industrial segment, the most relevant transaction was the acquisition of the A1 Logistic Park project located at km 13 of the A1 motorway by CTP, the largest owner of industrial spaces, for approximately 40 million euros.

  • World agro-industrial group buys Hagi Ghita Office Building

    A major player in the food products industry has recently acquired Hagi Ghita Office building, located in Bucharest’s Central Business District, owned by LSG Group. Crosspoint Real Estate was the sole advisor in the 2.8 million Euro transaction.

    Hagi Ghita Office Building is located on 89-91 Hagi Ghita street, very close to Piata Victoriei, and provides 1,500 sqm built office space spread on 5 above ground floors with a typical floor area between 200-300 sqm.

    The building was delivered in 2013, owner-occupied, and it was initially built by LSG Group, specialized in integrated building technologies as their HQ and flagship facility to showcase their capabilities in terms of engineering and infrastructure.

    Thanks to other energy-saving technologies – such as solar panels for hot water production, rotary heat recovery to the ventilation system, HVAC and lighting coordinated a unique building management system without the presence of switches and thermostats in each room, the building is considered the first truly “smart” building in Romania.

  • C&W Echinox takes over the management of Ethos House in Bucharest

    Cushman & Wakefield Echinox real estate consultancy company was appointed to manage the Ethos office building, situated in the Floreasca area, in Bucharest.

    This is the second mandate for the management of an office building by CWEchinox in 2019, the Asset Services department being therefore responsible for managing the day-to-day operations of the building and the relation with the tenants, the operational supervision, and also financial and reporting services directly to the owner, through a team of specialists both on-site and at the company’s headquarters, coordinated by Mihaela Petruescu, Head of Asset Services.

    Ethos House is a building of exceptional design, with a remarkable exterior façade inspired by the Renaissance architecture. The building has a leasable area of ​​around 8,000 square meters, distributed on the ground floor and seven floors above ground. There building also provides 100 parking spaces located in two underground floors.

    For Cushman & Wakefield Echinox, the two new mandates coincide with the expansion of the services offered through the property management department, which changed its name from Property Management to Asset Services.

    Mihaela Petruescu, Head of Asset Services, Cushman & Wakefield Echinox: “We are proud to expand the portfolio of properties that we manage with a new office building, Ethos House respectively, a building with a unique personality on Bucharest real estate market. We are a team who cares for people, buildings and every business, and this principle guides us on a daily basis. We are honoured by the fact that Mr. Anastasios Gotsis trusted us and we are motivated to contribute for the long-term success of Ethos House.”

  • Developers will build around 1.2 million square feet of spaces in 2019

    In 2019 it is expected to be delivered about 600,000 square meters of logistics and industrial spaces, over 400,000 square meters of office spaces and 200,000 square meters of retail spaces.

    € 1.3 billion real estate properties, delivered last year in Romania.

    What kind of apartments are buyers looking for in 2019?

    WDP will invest 40 million euros in a new hall for Pirelli Slatina.

    Renault Bucharest Connected building, completed in just 561 days.

  • Office vacancy rate in Bucharest at the lowest rate in history

    The average office vacancy rate in Bucharest declined last year to a historic low of about 6.6%, compared with 9.2% by the end of 2017.

    This week buzz!

    CTP is the first company on the local market to reach the historical landmark of 1 million square meters built-up area, divided into 15 parks located near Bucharest and nine other Romanian cities.

    Rieker will close it’s factory in Lugoj, Timis county.

    OMV Petrom offers 10 million euros for the construction of the first Pediatric Oncology and Radiotherapy Hospital in Romania.

    AFI Europe signed a non-binding letter of intent with Plaza Centers to acquire the majority stake in the Casa Radio project, located in downtown Bucharest. The total transaction costs will reach 60 million euros.

    CFR launched the auction of construction works for the connection of Bucharest Otopeni International Airport Terminal to the national railway system.

    Transactions with office buildings reached, in 2018, a record level for the last decade, with 20 real estate projects, with a cumulative lease area of ​​220,000 square meters and a value of more than 500 million euros, purchased in Bucharest, according to Romania Investment Marketbeat report, launched by Cushman & Wakefield Echinox.