Yearly Archives: 2016

The investor company FairPlay International has plans for the construction of a 10-storey office building in the center of Sofia. The company has already invested in the plot of the former Czech Republic Embassy, which spreads over 3.5 decares. The plot has a wonderful and easily approachable location on Yanko Sakazov Str., being meters away from Vasil Levski Monument and “Quadrant 500”, just opposite the former Serdika Cinema.

The plan of the investor is to construct a modern office building on the site of the old embassy, which is to be demolished. In the last couple of hours have been going on various administrative procedures for changing the status of the plot. Once the documents are arranged, the company can start the construction of the new office building. The project is for ten stories of offices with access to the boulevard. The area is very favorable, close to a large park and many places for dining out and yet featuring not many office premises. The region enjoys excellent transport connections, which will further turn the office building into a tempting business location. Interest towards the new office project in Sofia is already shown by companies in the insurance and in the financial sectors, which value the central location and the proximity to important state institutions.

The fourth phase of the Expo 2000 office complex has started and it is expected to bring another brand new 12 500 sq.m of offices of class A by September 2017. The SEO of Expo 2000 Office Park Adina Welsh, explained the that third phase of the Sofia office complex has been completed one month prior to the due date thanks to the great cooperation with the company Strabag. That third phase has got a Leeds Gold Certificate since August 2015, resulting in excellent optimization of the monthly expenses concerning water and electricity, etc.

That innovative green initiative will go on in the next phase of Expo 2000 Office Park in Sofia, aiming to improve the office environment. All the requirements for the offices of class A will also been taken into account. The managers of this office park in Sofia are expecting serious interest from many outsourcing companies that are already operating in Bulgaria or plan to outsource their business to Sofia. Phase 4 of the Expo 2000 Office Park in Sofia will offer 12 500 sq.m of high-quality office premises by the fall of 2017 and will come with a large underground parking area, many green areas and places for recreation.

The construction companies residing in Sofia are nowadays planning projects for the building of office centers. The new projects that they plan are inspired by the demand coming from the outsourcing and the IT industry. These companies have specific need and requirements at thee renting of office buildings and the construction companies now can arrange their projects in order to meet those needs. The outsourcing and IT companies have many employees, who require at last 7 sq.m. of office space. That means that all systems in the buildings should have a larger capacity, including the ventilation system, the air conditioning system, etc.

In addition to that, the large IT and outsourcing companies that are looking for offices in Sofia also need more premises for dining and naturally more parking places. The outsourcing companies that have chosen Sofia as the destination for their business are also interested in the maintenance costs that they will need to cover including fees for heating and ventilation, for cleaning of the office space, for electricity, for internet, etc. Serious attention is also paid to the good city location, the infrastructure of the area and the excellent transport links, as well as the available professionals.

The office and business market in Sofia is in the process of revival. According to the real estate market analysis of leading companies working in the sphere, almost 50 % of the office buildings under construction are already rented out. For the other 50 % of office buildings under construction are being led serious negotiations. The increased demand towards Sofia offices of class A for rent and the stable rental levels in the city makes the office building investors confident.

In spite of the numerous new projects for office buildings, the demand for class A offices in Sofia is serious and the available office spaces at the moment remains limited. That is the reason why so many companies are now signing office rental contracts for office buildings that are still under construction. The facts show that in the third quarter of 2015 more than 167 000 sq.m of offices premises in Sofia were under construction and half of them came already rented.

According to the real estate experts, this office situation will remain the same in the next two years. The serious interest will be from the BPO and IT companies. Currently are being planned office buildings with completion in 2018 and total area of 450 000 sq.m.

The last three months of 2015 were very busy on the office market in Sofia. The demand for Sofia offices of class A was not only diminishing in the end of the year, but the interest was actually getting stronger. Several brand new office projects have also started. In the first nine months of the last year many new office projects in Sofia have started. According to the real estate agents that trend is about to proceed with the same pace.

The most important office project that was completed in Sofia in the last three months of the year is the completion of the Capital Fort project and the signing of the rental contract for the largest office space available – the one with Visteon company for 7300 sq.m. of office space in Sofia. In the last quarter of 2015 started the construction of the fourth phase of Expo 2000 complex, as well as the new Bernard Investments project on “Tsarigradsko Schousse” Blvd.

Besides the serious investment in new office complexes in Sofia, there is still a serious demand for offices in the capital of Bulgaria. According to the statistics, the planned office buildings up to 2018 will have total area of 450 000 sq.m. Currently the rental levels are stable and vary around 12.5 Euro/sq.m.