Business Review

Medical services provider MedLife has leased 3,000 sqm in a building on Calea Victoriei which used to host the Rompetrol HQ, CBRE has announced. 

The recession that has hit Romania is gradually easing, although the real estate sector is still feeling the pain. According to Kelly Herbert, commercial manager for EC Harris, a built asset consultancy, Romania will always remain attractive due to its skilled and relatively inexpensive labor force and good cultural links with Western Europe.

Ovidiu Posirca

DTZ Echinox and Jones Lang LaSalle have been appointed co-exclusive leasing agents of Cocor commercial center in Bucharest, and they will represent Cocor S.A in its relationship with brands interested in leasing space inside the store. 

International perfumery chain Douglas, electronics and home appliances retailer Altex and fashion brands, Poema and Musse, opened new stores in Shopping City Sibiu, the retail park in Transylvania. These openings will be followed by a 1,200 sqm C&A store, scheduled to open on September 1^st.

Bucharest drivers pay an average of EUR 100 per month to park their vehicles, or 28 percent of an average monthly salary, more even than a London motorist who allocates 26 percent of a EUR 2,924 salary, according to the real estate advisory company Colliers International. Despite the prohibitive costs, more than 1.1 million cars are squeezed into the limited number of parking spaces in the Romanian capital.

Andreea Ceasar

Insurance company Signal Iduna has moved its HQ to Floreasca Business Center, where it is taking up a 1,000-sqm space on three floors. The company was previously operating from Vulturilor street. 

The Bucharest residential market is expected to reach a stock of 15,700 new units by the end of 2011, as shown by a recent study by DTZ Echinox.  With nearly 1,000 apartments announced for completion in 2011, the new supply is significantly lower compared to approx. 4,100 apartments completed in 2010. 

Austrian sports fashion and equipment retailer Hervis will open a 950-sqm outlet in Palas Mall Iasi. This is the retailer’s first location in northeastern Romania and the second in the Iulius Group network. 

Bucharest has long been home to a significant Chinese community, and the tiger-economy country is the inspiration behind a new retail development, China Town, which opened to much fanfare last week. Business Review travelled to the outskirts of town to see what all the fuss was about, and found a strange mix of forward thinking and the old habits of the informal economy.

Andrea Ovanezian

This year is definitely a better year than 2010. No one can say the opposite. But despite the positive signs, the first six months have not seen many transactions completed. The growth is still slow, after two years of “silence”. It looks like the Romanian Real Estate market has become a marathon similar to the grand prix of Monaco, where patience and careful moves overcome speed.

Ilias Papageorgiadis