Portland Trust, the developer of Opera Center office building in Bucharest, has started developing two large real estate projects located in northern Bucharest.
"We'll erect an office building with a lettable area of 36,000 square metres in Floreasca, as well as a housing project on a 50-hectare plot of land in northern Bucharest. Both projects are in their first stage of development," Robert Neale, managing director and shareholder in the company, told ZF.
The office building will be developed on a plot of land of around 10,000 square metres and will have a total area of 65,000 square metres, as well as 800 parking spots. A project of this size entails investments worth 80-100 million euros. Neale chose not to provide any information on the value of the respective investments.
The company, headquartered in the Czech Republic, is known on the domestic market for being the developer of Opera Center office building and of Bucharest Business Park, projects, which were sold to Austria's CA Immo investment fund, but also for Bucharest West logistic park.
"I have no regrets about having sold the office buildings. I got a good yield at that time. We cannot keep the buildings for a long period of time because they are hard to manage. I sold to CA Immo at that time because it was the first institutional fund on the market. The development of Opera Center, in 1999, was the most difficult project we have accomplished," specified Portland Trust manager.
Robert Neale is 43, was born in Leeds and has been living in Prague since the early '90s, where he founded Portland Trust. Later on, he got Apollo Real Estate US company to join him as a business partner. He chose not to specify the stake he holds in the company.
Portland Trust focuses on the development of real estate projects in the Czech Republic and Romania. The company's representative says Apollo has other partners on the markets of the region, which is why Portland Trust does not tap into other markets.
The company operates on all the segments of the real estate market, having so far developed projects with an area of above 200,000 square metres.
"Our plans for the Romanian market are long-term ones because many of the buildings developed at present do not have the best quality or appearance, which is encouraging for us," says Robert Neale smiling.
The company is developing one of the most important logistic projects in capital city, Bucharest West, located 14 kilometres away from Bucharest on the Bucharest-Pitesti highway, due to be finalised in 18 months.
Legislative changes, the development of the real estate market and the conditions on the international constructions markets are putting pressure on developers' costs, which see their profit margins shrink.
Portland Trust
One of the first foreign developers present in Romania
Has started developing two large real estate projects in northern Bucharest, an office building with a lettable area of 36,000 square metres in Floreasca and a housing project on a 50-hectare plot of land
Is known on the domestic market for being the developer of Opera Center office building and of Bucharest Business Park,as well as for Bucharest West logistic park
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