Local developer One Untied Properties announced that its One Verdi Park project, located in the Floreasca neighbourhood of northern Bucharest, will focus mainly on exclusive residential units. The developer’s initial plan included a 17-floor office tower, offering 21,000 sqm of commercial space, alongside a residential tower. One Verdi Park is scheduled for completion in Q4 2021.

AFI Europe Group contracted a €170 million loan from a consortium of banks consisting of Erste Bank Group, pbb Deutsche Pfandbriefbank, and Banca Comerciala Romana (BCR) to acquire NEPI Rockcastle’s office portfolio of in Romania.

Approximately 1.22 million new residencies were built in Romania between 1990 and 2019, representing only 13.4% of the total dwellings stock calculated by the National Institute of Statistics, so the residential stock is mainly composed of apartments built under the communist regime, having a low degree of comfort in most cases, according to an analysis realised by Cushman & Wakefield Echinox real estate consulting company.

JLL has advised SLS Cargo, a transport and logistics company, in a lease transaction of 15,500 sqm of warehouse space in P3 Bucharest A1, located approximately 13 km west of Bucharest’s city centre. The new location is consolidating under one roof the logistic operations of SLS Cargo located around Bucharest.

Polish company Scallier, which is developing a chain of retail parks in Romania under the brand name Funshop Park, has decided to choose BREEAM as the certification system for newly built schemes. Gleeds, one of the world’s largest companies operating in the construction consultancy market, is responsible for the certification process as well as project and cost management services. By 2022, Scallier plans to deliver 6 assets under the Funshop Park brand, which will offer a total of 40,000 sqm of modern retail space (GLA). Further projects are in the preparatory stage.

P3 Logistic Parks lased out a total of 58,637 square meters of logistic and office space in H1 2020 to clients such as Gebrüder Weiss Romania, Interbrands Marketing & Distribution, Logwin or Just Master Activities. Of the total number of transactions, 52% of the surface (30,466 sqm) is represented by new long-term contracts, 38% are prolongations of existing contracts (22,420 sqm), and the remaining 10% (over 5,700 sqm) are short-term leasing agreements.

Globalworth’s revenue and net operating income rose by 9.9% to €114.0 million and by 17.1% to €79.6 million as compared to H1 2019, respectively, mainly due to the acquisition of standing properties in Poland and completion of the development of properties in Romania. Globalworth has published its interim results for the six months ended 30 June 2020.

AFI Park Brașov, an office project developed by AFI Europe Romania, announced two new tenants, Siemens Romania and NTT Data. The Class A office building has thus reached an occupancy rate of 55% before its official opening, with a total leased area of approximately 8,300 sqm.

CTP has been named the landlord of choice by a joint venture partnership between Maersk and IB Cargo which is going to operate a 75,000 sqm distribution centre for IKEA Supply AG at ctPark Bucharest West.

The recent transactions closed in the last weeks, with a total value of €400 million, demonstrate that the investment market in Romania remains strong and attractive even in the COVID-19 pandemic period, Romania no longer being just seen as just a fringe market of Central Europe, according to Cushman & Wakefield Echinox.