The stock of modern office space in Bucharest reached 3.16 million square meters at the end of the third quarter of 2019, in the context of a population of 2.11 million inhabitants and an unemployment rate of 1.3 %, according to the Romania Office Destinations report, conducted by CBRE Romania.

Alpha Bank Romania has sold a 60,000 sqm plot of land in Timișoara to German retail chain Lidl and two other investors. The Romanian bank previously planned to develop a shopping centre there, Ziarul Financiar reported.

Colliers International Romania has been assigned to provide property management services for the first building of the Equilibrium office project, developed by Skanska in the capital which was handed over last fall. This is the second mandate won by Colliers from Skanska, bringing the total portfolio managed by the company to almost 530,000 sqm of industrial and office spaces.

Globalworth Real Estate Investment, by buying a 50% stake from Elgan Group, has become the sole shareholder of real estate developer Elgan Offices. The two companies developed the Renault Bucharest Connected (RBC) building located in the western part of Bucharest. Elgan Group is owned by Israeli businessman Simon Roth.

Demand for industrial and logistics space in Romania in 2019 reached a total of about 476.000 square meters, a value comparable to that of 2018, when the transactions amounted to a total of 514.000 square meters, according to JLL.

Atenor announced the obtaining of the building permit for the @EXPO project, located in the north-west of Bucharest that includes the development of approximately 49,000 sqm of rentable space. The complex will meet the highest standards of sustainability for BREEAM "Excellent" certification. In particular, it will use innovative technologies to reduce operating costs and increase occupant comfort.  

Globalworth Industrial, the industrial and logistics sub-brand of Globalworth, has begun construction at Constanța Business Park, the largest mixed-use project in Romania. The business park is being developed on a plot of some 100 hectares and will include industrial and logistics, production and service space, as well as office buildings and an intermodal hub.

Romanian retailer Profi’s network is expanding rapidly, inaugurating new stores while also taking over already-existing networks. The most recent development involves acquiring 18 supermarkets in Prahova and Dambovita counties from local peer Pram Maya. This transaction was already approved by the Competition Council. CBRE assisted Maya in the transaction process.

Major real estate developers continued to be active in Bucharest throughout 2019, providing the land needed for new projects consisting of over 6,000 apartments and 130,000 square meters of offices. Overall, in 2019, 24 major transactions were made in Bucharest with land intended for the development of residential, office or mixed projects, some of them having the potential to include a hotel component, according to Cushman & Wakefield Echinox.

The stock of modern offices in the major regional centres of Romania - Cluj-Napoca, Timișoara, Iași and Brașov - will reach the threshold of 1 million square meters in 2020, with a delay of almost one year compared to the initial estimates. Despite the fact that 2019 was a record year in terms of deliveries, with a volume of nearly 130,000 square meters, according to Cushman & Wakefield Echinox's Office Market Regional Cities report.