IMMOFINANZ Group has started work on a new office development project – the Metroffice in Bucharest. This project also marks the start for the long-term transformation and expansion of the existing Iride Business Park into a modern urban quarter, the Iride City. Approx. 40,000 sqm of rentable space are planned for the Metroffice, with the first section covering nearly 20,000 sqm. Construction has just started and should be completed in the first calendar quarter of 2016. The investment volume for the first building will total approx. EUR 34 million.
“Romania is one of the IMMOFINANZ core markets that we have designated as a focal point of our development activities in the coming years. The economy is on a steady road to recovery and is growing faster than in other CEE countries, which also means an increasing demand for high-quality commercial properties. The volumes on the transaction market also show that Romania is now back on the radar screen of international investors“, explained Eduard Zehetner, CEO of IMMOFINANZ Group.
Metroffice will be realised as the first part of a long-term master plan which involves the redesign of the entire area within IMMOFINANZ’s Iride Business Park into the future Iride City. Plans call for the transformation of this area into an innovative quarter with office, retail, leisure and residential space – in other words, a new, open and vitalised section for the city. When the final stage of construction is completed, Iride City will provide space for restaurants, a hotel and conference center and day-care center as well as park and sports facilities. The entire project, which also includes the refurbishment of the Iride Business Park, will cover several phases and a time horizon of ten to twenty years.
Metroffice – the office directly at the metro station
The Metroffice office complex covers three buildings with rentable space totalling approx. 40,000 sqm. The first section, where construction has recently started, will cover six stories with nearly 20,000 sqm. The rentable areas will range up to 3,500 sqm per floor, with a flexible design that allows for individual and open offices. One unique feature of the building is its location: the underground is located nearby – a special plus in Bucharest – and good tram and bus connections make the city center and airport easy to reach in only ten minutes.
Plans also call for LEED certification – including, among others, a green roof. PORR in Bucharest was chosen as the construction company for the Metroffice project.
IMMOFINANZ Group in Romania
IMMOFINANZ Group has been active on the Romanian market since 2004 and has since compiled a property portfolio with a book value of EUR 964.0 million. That represents 13.9% of the Group’s total property assets. The Romanian portfolio includes 16 properties with 404,503 sqm of rentable space (nine office buildings, four shopping centers and three logistics facilities).
The Iride Business Park has nearly 93,000 sqm of rentable space, which make it the largest business park in Bucharest.