Romanian developer Iulius has inaugurated Palas Campus, the biggest office building in Romania with a total leasable area of 60,000 sqm, of which 54,000 sqm are offices and the rest retail premises. The project was completed in three years following an investment of more than €120 million.
The biggest tenant in Palas Campus is e-commerce giant Amazon, which has more than 2,000 employees in the city. Amazon's development centre in Iași is the biggest across CEE. Microsoft and Visma Software Romania are also among the 13 multinational firms that have taken space in the project. They have around 5,000 employees in total.
“It is an attractive project, unique from many perspectives, with a mission geared towards developing and supporting the city, a strong focus on sustainability and national premieres in this direction. A project that has brought to Iași the first regional headquarters of powerful companies and supported the development of those already present in the regional business hub that has grown over the last decade in Palas Iași,” said Iulian Dascălu, Iulius’ President.
The financing for the development was covered by the IFC and Alpha Bank. In fact, Palas Campus was the first project in Romania that got a green loan of €72 million from the IFC, a World Bank member, and the developer is working now with the same financial institution to create a net zero strategy for its portfolio. The building is also the first in Romania to undergo a double green certification process – EDGE and LEED.
As part of its new development, Iulius financed infrastructure works worth €4.5 million in the area and invested another €33 million in an underground parking lot.
The office building is located close to mixed-use scheme Palas Iași. Iulius’ combined investments in Iași spanning retail and office components tops €500 million. The developer is planning to invest the same amount in an urban regeneration project in Cluj-Napoca that is currently in the permitting phase.
