Monthly Archives: February 2016

A new tendency in the office market is now to be traced in Sofia city. Along with the serious interest towards the offices larger than 1000 sq.m of usable space, many startup companies from all over Europe are now looking for smaller office premises in Sofia between 200 and 400 sq.m of area. The local companies that are further developing their services and production are also looking for new offices. Most of the companies on demand of office premises are coming from the financial and the IT sphere. There are also companies trading on the stock markets or working in the sphere of the high technologies and services.

Since the beginning of 2015 there is a greater supply of office premises thanks to the office projects that have been restarted in 2014. The new office projects in Sofia are offering larger office premises above 1000 and 1500 sq.m. The subsidiary companies that are looking to relocate under one roof have interest in these large office premises and they are to release the smaller offices they used to rent. It is expected that those smaller office will answer the needs of the startup companies. The rental levels remain in the levels of 10-12 Euro/sq.m. per month in the Sofia office premises of class A. However, in the most luxurious offices the rental prices go up to 13-14 Euro/sq.m. per month.

The outsourcing services and the IT sector have the capacity and the will to open another 45 000 work positions by 2020. Bulgaria and especially its capital Sofia, is a leading outsourcing destination in Europe and the IT companies are in search of talented specialists in the country. The interest shown towards Bulgaria is not new, since Bulgaria won the European Outsourcing Awards contest for 2015. The country has been nominated as one of the three best places for outsourcing of services and production in the world, along with South Africa and Latvia. Bulgaria has been chosen as the best outsourcing destination thanks to the professionals working here and their skills, knowledge of foreign languages and low expense rates. The country is part of the European Union, which is another plus as well.

The annual turnover of the outsourcing industry is 1 billion Euro and the expectations are for this figure to double by 2020. In the last decade the income of the IT companies has shown an increase of 600 %. At the end of 2014 more than 33 000 specialists have been working in 180 outsourcing companies in Bulgaria. The solid salary and the flexible working hours are drawing the attention of a growing number of graduates.

Since the middle of December 2015 Sofia has its brand new Technology and Innovation Network Center, planned to become the core for innovation and startup businesses in the country. The innovation center is an initiative of the state and is located in the ex-military center near the 4th kilometer in Sofia. It features a complex of several buildings, a park and a sports center. The new Technology and Innovation Network Center still needs a pedestrian access from “Tsarigradsko Schousse” Blvd. Approximately 35 000 sq.m will be added to the technology project by the end of 2016.

The purpose of the complex is not just to offer more offices and business buildings, but to be a hub for the technology companies, combining technologies, universities and education centers, science innovations. The aim of the Technology and Innovation Network Center is to gather in one place all those companies that are oriented towards the innovations, information and communication technologies, new and green energies, etc. The new Technology and Innovation Network Center plans to attract international scientists and investors.

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.