Metroffice Development in Breaks Ground in Bucharest’s Iride City Master Plan

By Balazs Szekely, Associate Editor

Bucharest, Romania–Site work has recently started on the Metroffice, a new office development project in the heart of the Romanian capital. The groundbreaking also marks the beginning of the redevelopment of the existing Iride Business Park into Iride City, an urban quarter. IMMOFINANZ Group owns and develops the property.

The three towers at Metroffice will encompass over 430,000 square feet of rentable space. According to the developer, approximately half of the total square footage is planned to be delivered in the first section—the six-story building where construction has already kicked off. The amount of rentable space per level will reach 36,000 square feet, with flexible floor plans allowing tenants to design either individual or open offices. Plans also call for a green roof, as part of pursuing LEED certification. PORR in Bucharest was chosen as contractor for the construction of the Metroffice project and the investment volume for the first building will add up to little under $42 million, with completion slated for the first quarter of 2016.

Currently encompassing around 1 million square feet of rentable space, Iride Business Park is the largest business park in Bucharest located in the business district between Pipera Highway and the Tei neighborhood, directly opposite the Pipera Business Tower. It provides comfortable connection to the Aurel Vlaicu International Airport (largely known as Băneasa Airport or Bucharest City Airport), the national railway system as well as to the capital city’s main thoroughfares and public transport system. It is also less than one mile from the new Promenada Mall. The future Iride City will have office, retail, leisure and residential spaces alike; it transforms and expands Iride Business Park into an open and revitalized section that is more connected to the city than before. Upon completion, the mixed-use development will provide space for restaurants, a hotel and conference center and day-care center as well as park and sports facilities. The entire redevelopment and expansion process will take several phases and a timeline of foreseeably 10 to 20 years.