GTC Romania, one of the major players on Bucharest''s office building market, is in talks to secure a loan intended to finance their first residential project.
"We are in talks to secure financing for a residential project, which is likely to be worth as much as 25 million euros," Shimon Galon, GTC Romania CEO, told ZIARUL FINANCIAR.
He announced this summer that GTC planned to develop several real estate projects in the capital city, which are put at more than 200 million euros.
One of these is linked to the construction of a residential complex made up of around 200 apartments in the northern area of Bucharest, at a price of about 1,200 euros per square metre (plus VAT). In this case, GTC is targeting high-income customers.
"We''ve started promoting our first residential project and we are now in the phase of securing pre-contracts for the sale of apartments," Galon explained. Construction works are likely to begin next year, according to the GTC representative.
Another residential project announced by the GTC official is related to the construction of about 600 apartments in the same northern area of Bucharest. "In a month or two, we will start promoting the second project on the market," Galon added. In line with market information, the two projects are called Jasmin Park and Green Dream Residence.
The developer''s entry onto the residential segment this year marks a policy shift, taking place after it successfully exited a real estate project involving office space.
GTC developed the Europe House office building, the current headquarters of the mobile phone operator Orange Romania, and sold it in 2003 for almost 30 million dollars (25 million euros) to the Austrian investment fund Europolis. The value of the investments made as part of this project revolved at around 23 million dollars.
At present, GTC is about to finalise works for America House, another office building located in Piata Victoriei, close to Europe House, and involving, in line with the company''s own estimations, investments of 40-50 million euros. Though not yet finalised, this building is already being eyed by investors, but the GTC official says a sale is out of the question at the moment. The biggest real estate project announced by GTC involves the construction of a large shopping centre, located in the same northern area of Bucharest.
In line with the latest available information, the project will include a shopping centre, due to be opened in 2007, with subsequent phases comprising a business park and a residential complex. The company this year announced it had acquired a 12-hectare plot of land in the northern area of Bucharest, for which it paid 15.5 million euros.
GTC Romania is a unit of GTC Poland, a developer controlled by the Israeli group Kardan. adrian.mirsanu@zf.ro ; ionut.bonoiu@zf.ro
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