"Unfortunately these hard times took us in a place where we cannot make forecasts, to set targets and to know when to take the appropriate measures to reach our goals. There are a lot of factors and everything depends on the economic growth level too. In order to have a request growth the companies have to register profit, to grow, to develop, in order to have a larger number of employees.

Without a solid economy we won’t have a growth within companies. Without their number of employees growth, which means bigger turnover, the thing wouldn’t be better on the Romanian real estate market and we will continue to assist relocations, some expansions, new entries, but nothing significant, and unfortunately not enough to keep pace with the office buildings development ", said Macoveiu, Mediafax writes.

Global Finance owns the office complex Global City Business Park in Pipera-Tunari.

The Greek investment fund’s representative added that the office developments continue but failing new companies on the market there is a big pressure on the owners of such buildings.

"An occupied space in a building means a vacant space in other building, practically creating a fierce competition and costs pressure", Macoveiu shows.

In his opinion, even in these conditions the rents will not drop in the next period, but a "stabile-up" trend would follow (stable, with an increasing trend).

"There are situations where the prices have dropped a lot, but it isn’t sustainable. Even if the things will not improve, the rents will stagnate. There are cases on the market where the rents were diminished, but this thing didn’t attract more tenants ", Macoveiu explains.

Asked where he would develop an office building in Bucharest, if case, he answered that he wouldn’t start it now.

"If I would be forced to start it, it should be a good project, bring something new. I would choose a small project, boutique style, in a central area, to stand out through its architecture, also offering good functioning conditions. Not a lot of sq m. below 10,000", Global Finance’s representative also said, adding that other chosen areas could be northern and western areas, depending on the location.

Global City Business Park, with a rentable area of 51,000 sq. m currently has an occupancy rate of approx. 51%, more than three years since its completion, and by the end of the year the target aimed by the company is 60% occupancy rate.

"I wish to reach 60% occupancy rate and for the next year quite the same, to reach 70% occupancy rate. It was a good year for us, after few difficult years for the entire city on the office segment. We aimed a goal considered by many as being modest, but realistic for us. We partly reached it and we have big chances to reach it fully. If we finalize the ongoing work we will reach this milestone and even exceed it", Macoveiu also said.

The office complex is situated in an area which didn’t succeed in attracting many companies, mainly due to the absence of a metro station. In these conditions, the vacancy rate of the buildings in this area is approx. 50%, the highest in Bucharest, the total office area in the zone being of approx. 210,000 sq. m.

"The rents in Pipera are with 25-30% lower than in the centre, but the difference is not only due to the location, but depends on circumstances also. There are buildings on the market which benefited from a good circumstance for a very short period, of 6-12 months, even if they were not in the close proximity of the metro, even if there weren’t too many public transportation solutions: the moment when they were delivered was highly benefic as there was no competition and they automatically rented uppermost ", Global Finance’s representative also explained.

In Bucharest the total modern office area is approx. two million square metres, out of which in the North - Dimitrie Pompei (Platforma Pipera), Pipera-Tunari and Floreasca-Barbu Vacarescu, there are office building on approx. 640,000 sq. m.

"Analyzing the projects in construction or planned, with high rate of being developed, the result was not surprising. But when you see the numbers you think about the changes to be brought by the fact that 40% of the modern office spaces are near two metro stations, Aurel Vlaicu and Pipera", Macoveiu also showed.

Even if he said that he was not aware of when a new office project would be developed in Pipera-Tunari area, Macoveiu considers that this will be the next destination for new office buildings investments, considering that the high density of the Floreasca-Barbu Vacarescu, the favourite area of the office developers in the last years, already started to create traffic related problems.

"If the infrastructure is keeping the pace with the developers it is obvious that the interest will turn to this area. What respecting the Zone Urban Plan would mean? If the metro station, the sidewalk, the new boulevard, the streets’ enlargements, another passage to the railway would be done, the interest will show and the investors building in the neighbourhood  (...) there is plenty of room. Everybody that invested in Pipera trusted the area, that you can build efficiently ", Macoveiu ended.

The last office project completed in Pipera-Tunari was Swan Office & Technology Park, in 2011. There were other projects planned in the area, before the crises, totalizing approx. 300,000 sq. m, but they were all stopped. (source: wall-street.ro)