Business Review

Investment fund New Europe Property Investments (NEPI), which was recently listed in the REITs category on the Bucharest Stock Exchange, will invest EUR 5 million in expanding the store Auchan is renting in Pitesti. The hypermarket’s surface is set to increase by 3,500 sqm.

Adama has announced that it has delivered the first stage of the Evocasa Viva residential project in Brasov, following an investment of approximately EUR 14 million. Evocasa Viva includes two ten-storey apartment buildings located near the Noua Lake in Brasov and only a few minutes away from the city’s downtown area, says Adama.

Simona Bazavan

Alinso Group has opened a 17,800-sqm environmentally friendly industrial warehouse in Ploiesti West Park, the first local warehouse with Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM) certification. BREEAM is a method assessing the environmental impact of buildings. The warehouse is dedicated to small and medium-sized companies. The EUR 750 million Ploiesti West Park, which covers 250 hectares, accommodates tenants such as Unilever, Lufkin Industries Inc, Toro, OTZ Logistics and British American Tobacco.

Several real estate consulting companies in Romania have set up the Real Estate Professionals Society (REPS). REPS’s main objectives are promoting the local industry’s interests, improving the quality of services, a better representation of the real estate community in the market and facilitation of the dialogue with the public authorities and the specialized institutions.

American pharmaceutical company Bristol-Myers Squibb has moved their Romanian HQ to Europe House. DTZ Echinox has assisted the company in leasing 930 sq m office space at the 5^th floor of building. The company has relocated their offices in the Central –Business District during May 2011. 

The Real Estate is Good campaign, started by real estate consultant Ilias Papageorgiadis, has gathered 500 signatures within a month since its kick off. The campaign is promoting more transparency and honesty within the real estate industry; a set of common values and principles for real estate professionals; a better understanding of what real estate is and its benefits for the whole of Romanian society; supporting the true professionals and the general empowerment of the real estate environment.

The first phase of Colosseum, the retail development of Nova Imobiliare, will open this autumn. The retail park, whose construction is being financed by the Bank of Cyprus, will host tenants such as the first Leroy Merlin store in Romania, electronics retailer Altex and a Carrefour hypermarket.

Staff

Partner content

With the recent peak in interest in wind farms in Romania, what is often lost in the rush is that beneath every turbine and cable and transformer is land. Essentially, developers of wind farms need to keep in mind that merely because their project relates to energy does not eliminate its essential characteristic as a real estate transaction. Indeed, one of the trickier aspects of wind farm development is to secure all necessary air rights on nearby land over which turbines rotate.

After a couple of tough years the local residential real estate market could see a long awaited pick-up in 2011, local developers hope. Asher Lax, marketing & sales VP at Adama, talked to Business Review about the company’s results so far and future plans for the Romanian market.

Simona Bazavan

The right policies in the areas of transport and logistics could contribute up to EUR 25 billion to Romania’s GDP by 2025 and create 150,000 new jobs, concluded participants at the transport and logistics seminar, Romania’s Next Step in Becoming the Eastgate Trade Hub of Central and Eastern Europe.