The company in 2009 opened an office in Iasi where nationwide data collection by phone operations were moved, and now the company decided to lease a new office space to expand operations.
“We leased an additional 2,300-sqm space in a building whose construction is scheduled to be completed next spring. A hub for Europe and other regions, set to gradually come to around 400 employees, will be developed here,” Stefan Gheorghiu, senior global real estate manager at GfK Romania, told ZF.
He did not provide information about the name of the investor that will develop the project related to GfK’s future headquarters. “It’s a domestic developer that owns several buildings in Iasi. The project will be a large one, and we will fill at least 50% of spaces,” added Gheorghiu.
As Bucharest’s workforce market becomes ever more competitive, multinationals have started looking at other major university centers in Romania for back-office operations. The first to be targeted are Cluj, Timisoara and Iasi, where office space lease costs are lower than in Bucharest.
Iasi holds around 100,000 square meters of office space at present. The biggest project is the complex developed by businessman Iulian Dascalu in Palas compound, according to a recent survey by real estate consultancy DTZ Echinox. According to the same survey, Iasi holds around 160 students/1,000 inhabitants, above the level of Cluj (154/1,000) or Timisoara (104/1,000).
GfK Romania reached revenue of EUR19.2 million and 241 employees in 2013.
(English version by Catalina Apostoiu)