Currently the Ministry is headquartered on Mircea Voda Blvd in Bucharest.
The relocation was approved by the Government on 18th December and the ministry has announced on 23rd of December the signing of the lease with Tower Center, with duration until 31st of December 2015.
The announcement didn’t mentioned the price, but the prior documentation showed that the estimated value of the contract for 30 months was EUR 2.88 million without VAT, including the rent, as well as the service charges, the partitioning and the furniture. The utilities costs are supported by the tenant separately.
Therefore for the 24 months the ministry is willing to pay EUR 2.3 million without VAT, which for an area of 4,000 sq. m (the maximum mentioned by the announcement) is nearly EUR 24/sq. m / month, a very good level of rent even with service charges included. Regarding the works in the premises, done by the owner, this is not an exception of the market on the office segment, usually the office owners offering such incentives to the tenants in order to attract them.
The financing will be supported by EU funds.
Bucharest prime rents (for good quality buildings in central and downtown) are estimated by the real estate consultancy companies at EUR 18-19/sq. m/month. According to Global Occupier Metrics, a product of DTZ Echinox, for a building with 100% on quality scale the rent on square metre would be monthly EUR 19.5.
The amount paid to the landlord will also include the office furniture.
The documentation mentions that only renting downtown or central space is taken in consideration and that the premises should also feature furniture, utilities and parking spaces.
Moreover the announcement shows that the offices should be 700 m distance from subway and 200 m from other public transportation. The building should be built or consolidated recently, and the necessary rentable area was estimated at 3,700-4,000 sq. m.
Tower Center also includes the offices of Hidroelectrica. At the renting date, Remus Borza, the judicial administrator of the company at that date, has declared that the rent to be paid was approx. EUR 17/sq. m plus EUR 4 /sq. m service charges for the new headquarters.
EY also has its headquarters in the same office tower.
Tower Center International was purchased in bankruptcy by Lorient Limited, a company controlled by the businessmen Ioannis Papalekas and Dragos Bilteanu, the most powerful FIC administrator at the moment. The tower was developed by Avrig 35 and has remained vacant for a long period of time due to some litigations of the developer, finally ended in bankruptcy.
Tower Center International is an A class office building with 110 m height, 22 floors, 4 underground levels and a total area of 32,000 sq. m. (source: wall-street.ro)
