Spaces on Magheru are now even more expensive than on luxury shopping street Calea Victoriei, according to retailers. On Magheru rent ranges between EUR50 and EUR80 per square meter per month, depending on the distance to the nearest underground station. Rent here is higher than in Baneasa Shopping City or AFI Palace Cotroceni malls.
However, the tenant mix on Magheru is varied, and tends to take advantage of the traffic between the two underground stations (Universitatii and Romana) rather than become a destination in itself, attracting clients through its products and services.
But since this is a central part of Bucharest, the area is constantly changing and could ultimately find its identity: two retailers are hoping to open highly-visible stores that will also sell well, a real estate developer is constructing an office building with commercial spaces on the ground floor and spaces are being adjusted to accommodate new stores.
“Magheru does not look like the high street of a European capital. No way. Rehabilitation of blocks of apartments might help. A parking lot would definitely solve some of the problems. The boulevard should look differently, but things have deteriorated since the ‘good days’ when rent was higher, boosted by casinos and drugstores, which were everywhere to be found,” says Oana Iliescu, managing director of real estate consultancy DTZ Echinox.
The owners of buildings and commercial spaces in the area have however preferred over the years to collect high rent and invest little or no money at all: almost 20 buildings on Magheru and Nicolae Balcescu – the boulevard that links Magheru to Universitatii) are marked as risky in case of an earthquake, while a building such as the former Lido Hotel has remained unused for several years.
Some of the spaces on Magheru have accommodated the same businesses for decades: bookstores and cinemas such as Patria, Scala and Studio have been holding out on the boulevard which sees traffic of around 100,000 cars daily, while clothing retailers that have tried their luck here have often closed down within a short space of time.
Mega Image is set to open a store soon close to Universitatii Square, in a space left vacant last year by retailer Tom Tailor, while clothing store BSB near Romana Square is going through a new renovation.
The Adidas store next to the Romana underground station was closed down, while the former Nike store has become Star Place, a brand in the portfolio of Elmec, which has started one of the most important investments in the area: the rehabilitation of a building located on the corner of Ion Campineanu street with Nicolae Balcescu boulevard.
Renting space on Magheru boulevard remains difficult and this is apparent in the way the rehabilitated Magheru One building looks like. The building of Austrian S+B Gruppe has one single tenant for its office spaces and one eye glasses store on the ground floor.
Currently banks appear to be the main clients for Magheru space owners: from Universitate to Romana, BCR, ING, Piraeus and Banca Transilvania have two agencies each, while BRD, Garanti, Raiffeisen, UniCredit, Alpha Bank and Bancpost are also present.
(English version by Daniela Stoican)