Construction commenced on GTC Hungary’s latest office development project. GTC White House is going to have a GLA of 21,500 sqm and is expected to be completed by end-2017. Concurrently, GTC Hungary will carry out a full interior refurbishment and technical reconstruction at Duna Tower Office.
GTC White House’s building permit came into effect on July 15, 2016. Swietelsky Hungary was named as the contractor for the deep foundation and basement works for the project, and GTC appointed international real estate agencies Cushman & Wakefield (C&W) and CBRE to serve as joint exclusive letting agents for the building.
GTC White House’s design incorporates and renovates the 100-year-old building of a former elevator factory (Schlick Felvonógyár) to create a modern office space of approximately 2,000 sqm in a unique working environment. The preserved historic building will be integrated into the whole of the new 21,500 sqm Class A office complex, which will be built to a LEED Gold environmental standard. Each floor will offer 2880 sqm of office space. A few minutes from two metro stations and tram line No. 1, GTC White House will have underground parking for 299 vehicles, over 150 bicycle stands, and shower suites.
GTC White House enters a reviving Budapest office market. Overall market vacancy rate currently stands at 10.3% from the low point of 22% in 2012. Following the 2008 downturn, construction of new office buildings in Budapest came to a halt (in 2009, 300,000 sqm was inaugurated, but dropped to practically zero in 2012-2013). Evidence of the new, positive trend is the approximately 80,000 sqm that will be made available in the capital this year, representing a growth of 42% over Q1 of last year.
GTC White House
Duna Tower Office, which was purchased by GTC in one of the biggest single asset office building acquisitions of 2015, will also be renewed. The interior refurbishing of 3,000 sqm of community areas and the full technical reconstruction of Budapest’s highest office building started in July. The remodeling of the 16-storey tall building, which offers a total of 31,500 sqm gross leasable area, is scheduled to finish in mid-October.
KÖZTI Architects & Engineers won the tender to recreate the lobby and to refurbish the cafe, the cafeteria, the terrace and the garden. The building’s air-conditioning system will be renewed, as will other technical installations, at a total cost of 2 million euros. To make the project as short as possible and to cause the least disturbance to tenants, work is being carried out over the summer. GTC Hungary has also launched a street food court next to the building.
Duna Tower Office (Photo: MTI / József Balaton)
With GTC White House the Hungarian subsidiary of Warsaw's Globe Trade Centre S.A. extends its entire domestic office portfolio to 140,000 sqm. GTC Hungary also owns Budapest’s tallest commercial office building - Duna Tower, Center Point - the capital’s largest office complex, GTC Metro and the Spirál Office Building.
A company specialising in the logistics sector, providing goods warehousing and transportation services, has leased a total of over 5,000 square meters of modern space at the MLP Czeladź logistics centre. The transaction was brokered by the consulting firm Rock Estate.
Skanska announced the expansion of its tenant portfolio in the Equilibrium 2 office building in Bucharest by welcoming ONV LAW. ONV LAW will occupy approximately 640 sqm in Equilibrium 2, with the move-in scheduled for December 2025.
EPP's Outlet Park Szczecin, the only outlet centre in Western Pomerania, is strengthening its fashion offerings by signing agreements with three brands previously unavailable in the region. JACK & JONES and Evenemen, with their men's fashion collections, and the premium optician OUTLY, have already opened their stores. eobuwie will also join the tenant roster this fall. VENEZIA, TATUUM, WITTCHEN, and Pako Lorente are also continuing their partnerships with the centre, significantly expanding their stores, while Lee Wrangler and German Optiker are moving to new locations. The new agreements and extensions cover a total area of nearly 1,800 square meters.
New appointments
Justyna Filipczak has taken up the position of Executive Vice President of the CEE residential segment and joined YIT's management team.
Avison Young's Valuation and Advisory team in Poland has welcomed a new member, Michał Marynowski, who takes the role of Assistant Valuer. Among other experiences, he worked at the Court of Appeal in Warsaw, where he was responsible for verifying execution documentation for selected investments, updating data in the premises database for court buildings, and analysing tender bids. Proficient in GIS, AutoCAD, and Revit, he also has strong skills in interpreting planning documents.
Golden Star Group, an international investment firm operating in the real estate sector, has announced the promotion of two key specialists within its Polish team. Paweł Moczybroda has been appointed Group Chief Financial Officer, while Ewa Dragunajtys has been promoted to Head of Asset Management.
Romania's residential market experienced a significant surge in July, with a record number of apartment sales recorded in Bucharest and other major cities.
CA Immo has announced that the Saski Crescent office building in Warsaw is now fully leased following the signing of new contracts with three companies, which together took 3,500 sqm of space. The property is now home to 12 tenants from different industries, while the ground floor hosts the BursztyNova Restaurant and Café, open to both employees and external visitors.
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