Category: Serviced Offices

The Prime Minister of Bulgaria sees the lack of Bulgarian’s accession to Schengen as an injustice and hopes this will end soon. He expressed his thoughts after a meeting with the Prime Minister of Romania, in early June. The Bulgarian Prime Minister further expressed his gratitude to his Romanian colleague for the excellent estimate that Bulgaria received.

Boyko Borissov further stated that Romania and Bulgaria are absolutely ready to join the travel-free zone of Schengen and that they do even better than many countries that are already members of the Schengen zone.

The Prime Minister of Bulgaria stated that the country wants a no visa regime for Canada and the United States, but most of all Bulgarians want their interests to be protected. This includes traveling with no visas in the Schengen area as well. He further stated that Romania and Bulgaria have already invited the Canadian ministers to visit the two countries and to get acquainted with the Schengen system.

The Information Technology industry in Bulgaria is among the fastest growing ones in the country for more than three decades already. Today, this industry enjoys a two-digit rate according to the European Information Technology Observatory and this grow is expected to continue. Five years ago, Bulgaria has been ranked as the most competitive country in the IT Industry in Southeastern Europe.

Currently Bulgaria is among the leading countries with multinational corporations opening offices in Sofia – among which being CISCO, VMware, SAP, HP, Atos, ProSyst, etc. This means that these companies can find in Bulgaria excellent technologies, well-prepared professionals and Class A Sofia offices at affordable prices. Not to mention that Bulgaria has the second fastest broadband internet.

The offices that these IT companies are looking for are spacious, with many onsite facilitates, and great location covered by the public transport network of Sofia city. And since the average monthly salary in the software industry is considerably low compared to the rest of the countries, Bulgaria seems like a great place for outsourcing the business that the IT companies have. The IT industry in Bulgaria is quite promising, with potential to yield high returns in the years to come.

Right after the active 2015 on the office market in Sofia, the real estate experts gave prognosis for dynamic 2016 and the situation on the office market has proven them right. Despite all the new office premises that have started in 2015 and 2016, the demand for available office premises of the highest class will still be serious. Currently, the available offices on the market in Sofia are approximately 22 400 sq.m, which is quite insufficient for the number of international companies that want to open offices in Sofia and the ones that are already here and wish to expand and thus relocate to more spacious office areas.

According to the plans of the big construction companies, 80 000 sq.m of office premises are to be completed by the end of this year and another 240 000 sq.m of offices are planned to be ready in 2017. Not all of these office premises will be in Sofia, however, as some of them will be based in the cities of Bourgas and Plovdiv. The companies that are looking to invest in the office segment in Bulgaria are from the IT and the Outsourcing sphere, various call centers, consultant and shared services companies.

More than one fifth of the office premises that are under construction in Sofia are already rented, mainly by companies in the outsourcing industry. The international companies that want to make business in Bulgaria are focused on Sofia, but some are also looking towards the cities of Plovdiv, Bourgas, Varna and Rousse. The drop in the vacancy of office premises is another indicator of the office market in Sofia and the increased demand for quality office space in the capital of Bulgaria. The rental levels of the high-quality offices of class A are between 12 and 14 Euro/sq.m, however the number of discounts and special offers has dropped.

During the recent years Bulgaria has received several awards, among which Destination of the Year by the European Outsourcing Association and the UK Outsourcing Association. Another great recognition comes from the fact that Sofia city was chosen to host the annual conference Leadership Summit & Awards 2016, during which it became clear that the quality projects of class A that answer the needs and the requirements of the international companies will strongly differentiate from the other offices on the market.

The supply of high-quality office premises in Sofia has increased with more than 5 % in the last six months, reaching approximately 1 900 000 sq.m. This became possible as the new offices of 79 500 sq.m. of Capital Ford business center were added to the number of the available offices in the capital Sofia. The offices of class A that are on demand are usually rented by international companies working in the sphere of services, real estate, IT, outsourcing and pharmaceutical sphere.

The prognosis on the office market sector are for stable and serious demand for offices of the highest quality in Sofia for the year ahead. The rental levels of the office premises vary between 12 and 14 Euro/sq.m depending on the location and the available facilities. The interest towards Sofia and Bulgaria in general on the part of the companies and investors is quite serious. In the next two years, the offices in Bulgaria that are planned to be constructed are as follows – 80 000 sq.m in 2016 and 240 000 sq.m in 2017.

The Long Tower Office Building that is to be constructed in Sofia city is named so due to its impressive height of 56 meters. It will include office premises of various size and layout, welcoming waiting areas, underground parking zone and panoramic terrace. The new office center will be situated on Bulgaria Blvd, parallel to Todor Kablieshkov Blvd. above the roof of the already operating trade center Bulgaria Mall. The seven storey building will cover 18 550 sq.m of area and will feature many premises of different usage.

The main entrance of the Long Tower office center will be placed from the side of Todor Kableshkov Blvd. There will be a second entrance to the south towards Bulgaria Blvd. The ground area will provide the connection between the underground floors with the parking lots and the above ground floors with the offices. There will be located the main entrance and the welcoming zone. Close to the reception zone will be located the security guard’s premises. The connection to the shopping center will be possible from all levels of the office building.

Garitage Park in Sofia is a multifunctional gated project situated in the area above the Ring Road and after Sofia Park Villas. The project of the office building has been considered in a wise way including various premises that the professionals and the residents might need including modern offices of different size, commercial premises, school, sports zones and entertainment areas with two entrances – from the Ring Road and from the bridge at Arena Cinema.

Garitage Park will cover an area of 165 sq.m, which is almost double the size of Business Park Sofia. The project will offer 95 000 sq.m. of offices, 60 000 sq.m of apartments, 4500 parking lots, a sports center with a swimming pool, etc. The investment made will be around 150 million Euro. The project will be built in several phases. The first one will be focused on two office buildings of 18 000 sq.m, 120 apartments and the underground parking area for the first three office and residential buildings. The second phase will be focused on the infrastructure. The third phase will be focused on the taller office and residential buildings.

In 2015 was launched the construction of a new office project called – Kambanite, which is expected to be ready by July this year. The company that owns the plot of 10.7 thousand sq. m and invests in the construction plans to offer a multifunctional building of the highest class, that covers the criteria for green buildings and urban constructions. The same company has already invested in the construction of the new office building where the HP headquarters in Bulgaria is based. That is why the company sees the new project for an office building in Sofia as part of the expansion in that region of the capital.

The company has already declared that it has many other plots of land close to the ring road and has plans to build on them. Yet, there are still no projects in mind but even so most probably they will be focused on the construction of business centers for the software and outsourcing companies. The total unfolded built-up area of the office center “Kambanite” will be 13.5 thousand sq.m, where the office premises that will be rented are 10.1 thousand sq.m. In addition, the project will have a restaurant and 215 parking lots. There is a serious interest in the project and many existing and new tenants coming from the IT and outsourcing sphere. Mladost region is also appealing as a residential zone, suitable for the families with children and the young professionals working in one of the office centers in that part of Sofia.

The Ring road of Sofia has become quite appealing to the companies based in Sofia or planning to outsource their business in the city ever since the construction and the successful launch of Business Park Sofia. This modern business venue completely changed the atmosphere and the overall appearance of the region and marked the start of new type of projects in the real estate sphere in Sofia city. This new business zone of the capital is a natural consequence of the growth of each city and is a focal point for certain businesses.

Business Park Sofia is functioning ever since 2001, and once it was constructed the region was built in with several large retail and shopping projects like Sofia Ring Mall, Arena Cinema Center, Tehnopolis, IKEA, Decathlon, Residential Park Sofia, etc. The new office projects in Sofia that are planned to be constructed in the area include the multi-functional complex Garitage Park, and the nearby Kambanine Building. The business zone of the capital is now providing offices, commercial centers, hotel, zones for recreation and many dining places. The business park with its offices and the area around are highly appealing to the outsourcing and the IT business.

Sofia offices market saw an active search in the last three months, a tendency that was going on in the first five months of 2016 as well. The main factor for this market situation is the increased interest and need towards expansion of the offices that have been previously rented. This interest mainly comes from the BPO centers and the IT companies and it resulted in the creation of many new office projects. In 2015 only in Sofia city were completed more than 105 000 sq.m of offices. Great deal of them were rented before the office centers were even completed. That is why the current supply of office premises on the market is still insufficient.

The Sofia office market is being driven by the interest of the new tenants and the expansion of the companies that are already on the market. The average size of the rented offices in 2015 was 1200 sq.m. – a fact that confirms the need of the companies for more spacious offices. The offices that are planned to be completed in 2016 are only 70 000 sq.m., in smaller office buildings great part of which for the investor companies own usage. This means that the lack of high-quality office buildings will not be dealt with in 2016 as well and the tendency for renting offices that are still under construction will remain valid. The completion of the larger office projects is planned for the first half of 2017.