Real estate developers will complete ten office buildings with a rentable area of around 100,000 square meters in Cluj, Timisoara, Targu-Mures and Brasov this year, with investments being particularly operated by Romanian businesspeople, unlike in Bucharest, where the most dynamic investors are foreign groups.
Around 10,000 employees of companies such as Continental, E.ON, GfK or UBIS (UniCredit) will work in the newly built offices.
The office market outside Bucharest started developing particularly in recent years and the stock is currently estimated at 500,000-600,000 square meters, around four times lower than in Bucharest.
This year, though, deliveries of new spaces will be similar, considering consultants expect deliveries of 120,000-160,000 square meters in Bucharest.
The biggest project due to be finalized this year in Bucharest is Bucharest One tower with a 48,000-sqm rentable area, but considering the current stage of works, GlobalWorth’s project is likely to be delivered in early 2016. In this context, deliveries in Bucharest are also set to revolve around 100,000 square meters.
“I am upbeat and I believe Iasi will gain the position it deserves in the following period,” said Bogdan Pitigoi, a stakeholder in Tester group of Iasi. The group will complete Tester II in Iasi in mid-2015 with a rentable area of 6,400 square meters.
One of this year’s largest deals on the office market was signed in Iasi, where the IT services unit of UniCredit group rented a 7,000-sqm space in a new building businessman Iulian Dascalu will complete near Palas project.
Office demand in Iasi is rising and developers have noticed this. “In May, we will complete Moldova Center and we are in talks to rent the project to a single client or to five clients. I estimate office demand in Iasi stands at 35,000 square meters this year, matching supply,” said Gheorghe Iaciu, who bought Moldova Mall shopping center to turn it into an office building.
Companies such as Amazon, Xerox or Endava, already present in Iasi, have expansion plans and Oracle is also said to mull opening an office in Iasi.
The biggest demand for office spaces comes from the IT segment in Transylvania, Sibiu, Oradea and Brasov as well.
In the western area, the most dynamic investor is businessman Ovidiu Sandor, who developed City Business Center project of Timisoara and teamed up with NEPI to develop The Office project of Cluj. Thus, in 2015, Sandor and NEPI will develop another 29,000 square meters of offices in Timisoara and Cluj, where brothers Cristescu and businessman Ion Sturza also develop offices.
“I believe big cities can absorb further offices spaces as they’re still appealing and most companies have expansion plans. Unfortunately, though, we can see fewer new companies than we’d want,” said Ovidiu Sandor.
Another major office project due to be finished this year in Transylvania is E.ON Tower of Targu-Mures, a building developed by Benta family, while in Brasov a former industrial building on Tractorul platform will be turned into an office space.
(English version by Catalina Apostoiu)