The building is valued at about EUR20 million, market sources say, and its owner will most likely turn it into a luxury hotel considering its location. Banks have been gradually leaving the heritage buildings they once occupied, choosing modern office buildings in business districts.
For instance, BCR is now housed in The Bridge 1 building in the Orhideelor area and in Bucharest Financial Plaza on Calea Victoriei.
BRD, which, too, was housed on the Doamnei Street near Romania’s central bank, moved to its own office building in Piata Victoriei a few years ago. ING left the Kiseleff palace for Crystal Tower in 2011, after spending 17 years in the former home of King Carol I.
The area around BNR has become one of the hottest destinations in the city for foreign investors. The first to go there, on Doamnei Street, was Lithuania’s Apex Alliance, which opened the first Hilton Garden Inn in Romania in Bucharest’s Old Town in December 2017. That hotel is now up for sale.
On the same street on the opposite side of the central bank, Apex Alliance is building the future Autograph by Marriott Hotel in a heritage building that once housed Marmorosch Blank bank. This hotel will be completed in late 2020 and have 214 rooms. Another hotel on Doamnei Street will be Moxy by Marriott, with 117 rooms.
Heritage buildings in central Bucharest have become a new target for real estate developers because of the dwindling supply of plots of land in this part of the city, says real estate consultant JLL. This market segment has significant potential given the great demand for office space and modern hotels in the center of Bucharest.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)