Local developer SDC Imobiliare, along with overseas investment funds, has launched what they claim to be the biggest real estate project in Romania. The Transilvania Smart City mixed-use, estimated to require an investment of €700 million, would see the construction of 10,000 apartments, a shopping centre, schools, supermarkets, a hotel and an aparthotel, office space, parks, and conference rooms in Cluj-Napoca. Work on the project is set to start in January 2021.

Building construction markets of the Balkan EECFA countries as a whole have shown resistance during the pandemic so far. Nonetheless, the region is foreseen to have yet another negative year in 2021, before expansion can return in 2022. The EECFA (Eastern European Construction Forecasting Association) has released its Construction Forecast Report for winter 2020.

S Immo AG has purchased two properties of the Campus 6 business park in Bucharest from developer Skanska with a total investment volume of €97 million. The two buildings have a total leasable area of nearly 38,000 square metres and both are fully let. Key tenants are Microsoft and Société Générale.

A new railway line connecting Bucharest’s main railway station Gara de Nord to the Henri Coanda International Airport has been inaugurated over the weekend. Trains depart every 40 minutes with a one-way trip taking about 20 minutes. The price of a one-way ticket is RON 4 (around €0.82).

The final stage of the Cluj Business Campus mixed-use project in Cluj-Napoca has been completed following a €27 million investment. The project comprises over 30,000 sqm of Class A office space and apartments.

Real estate developer Hagag Development Europe started construction works for its residential project H Eliade 9 Residence. The development budget amounts €16 million. 40% of the available units have been already sold in the pre-construction phase.

The Neo Mamaia residential complex developed by One United Properties at the seaside will benefit from an extension that will allow the construction of new boutique apartments. The real estate developer has announced the acquisition of five plots of land in the immediate proximity of the first Neo Mamaia compound, thus extending the complex frontal opening to the sea up to over 250 meters.

French real estate group Catinvest has opened the first Class A office building in Craiova, Romania. The new offices of Electroputere Parc are part of the mixed-use building covering 12,300 sqm that has been completed this year and another similar building with 12,700 sqm is set to be completed in Q2 2021. The total investment cost amounts to €39 million.

Cushman & Wakefield Echinox advised Mitiska REIM to sell a property in Braşov to French DIY retailer Leroy Merlin, which continues its expansion plans on the local market.

Cushman & Wakefield Echinox has been appointed to manage the Ţiriac Tower office building in Bucharest’s Central Business District, starting with October. As a result, Cushman & Wakefield Echinox will be responsible for the management of daily administrative-operational activity within the project, through a team of specialists both on-site and at the headquarters, coordinated by Mihaela Petruescu, Partner Asset Services.