Portuguese group Sonae Sierra announced that it purchased the 50% stake held by its former Joint Venture partner Caelum Development in Bucharest’s ParkLake shopping centre with the intention of consolidating its presence in Romania.

Futureal Group has sold its portfolio of Corvin office buildings to real estate funds managed by OTP Real Estate Investment Fund Management. The recently closed transaction involves all of the operating office buildings built as part of Corvin Promenade, as well as two currently being constructed. The total of eight Class A buildings offer a combined GLA of nearly 80,000 square meters.

Futureal Group has exited its €19 million mezzanine financing provided to Caelum Development for the development of ParkLake shopping centre in Bucharest, Romania. The 70,000 sqm GLA project was developed by a joint venture between Sonae Sierra and Caelum Development. Futureal Group will intensify its activity in Romania through its residential investments subsidiary, Cordia. The company has recently announced a €50 million worth of investment plan in Bucharest for the next year, part of a long-term roadmap for the local market. Cordia division plans to deliver about 500 apartments per year, designed for medium and medium high segments.

Futureal Group celebrated the launch of its €300 million Etele Plaza’s construction with a foundation stone laying ceremony. Buda's biggest shopping centre is a key element of the group’s property development projects s in Budapest’s 11th district.

Cordia Romania, the residential division of Hungary’s Futureal Group, plans to invest €50 million in new projects million next year. The company aims to deliver about 500 apartments per year on the Bucharest residential market, designed for the medium and medium-high segments.

One of the most active commercial property developers of Budapest is expanding its portfolio. In addition to several office projects, it started the Hungarian capital’s first retail development in nearly a decade. Tibor Tatár, Futureal’s CEO talked to Property Forum about new projects and the challenges a developer needs to face.

Futureal Group signed a loan agreement for €150 million (roughly HUF 48 billion) with a consortium led by UniCredit acting as Bookrunner and Facility Agent. UniCredit and Erste Group will finance Buda's biggest shopping centre with equal parts, marking one of the largest shopping centre-related financings in Hungary over the past ten years. The construction of Etele Plaza, with a gross area of 137,000 square meters, is already underway.

The construction works of Etele Plaza has begun next to the Kelenföld railway station at the western gate of Budapest. As Futureal Group’s latest commercial development, the shopping and entertainment centre with a gross building area of 155,000 square meters will be the biggest of its kind on the Buda side of the city. The mall, combining unique architectural solutions and digital services will feature more fashion brands in one place than any other shopping centre in Hungary.

Futureal Group is developing its biggest office project in Budapest, next to Hungary’s largest multimodal transportation hub. Budapest ONE Business Park will expand the capital’s office market with more than 65,000 square meters of GLA. The first phase of the WELL Building Platinum pre-certified complex designed as a ribbon building will be handed over in H2 2019.

Futureal Group has started the construction of the second phase of its Advance Tower office building located at the Váci office corridor in Budapest, Hungary. The expansion of the office complex will offer an additional 8,000 square meters of GLA. Advance Tower’s second phase receiving the international WELL Building Platinum Precertification is expected to be handed over in the second half of 2019.