Category: Serviced Offices

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.

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.

In the last 12 months Sofia office market became a witness of several new office building projects emerging on the market. The construction companies became confident enough to start investments in new office buildings due to the great demand for such office premises in Sofia and the stable rental levels.

In the capital Sofia has been completed the largest office project for 2015 – Capital Fort and was signed the largest rental deal for 7300 sq.m of office area. In the second half of the year started the construction of the fourth phase of Expo 200 and also the construction of the new project along Tsarigradsko Schousse Blvd . – Bernard Investments. This means that the planned office buildings the construction of which has already started and which will be completed by 2018, reach total area of 450 000 sq.m. The rental levels of Sofia offices remain around 12.5 Euro/sq.m. for the offices of class A.

The rental levels of Sofia offices are expected to go up in the next three years according to the association of the owners of business centers in Bulgaria. In a recent interview, the chairperson of the association stated that year 2015 was very active for the office market in Sofia with a serious demand for spacious office premises. That is so as the large international companies are not only staying in the country, but also they are enlarging their activities, hiring more employees and thus in need of more space.

The offices in Sofia that have been rented in 2015 were much larger than the ones rented 3-4 years ago. In 2015 there were deals signed for the rental of Sofia office of 7000 sq.m. Other serious deals signed were for 3500 sq.m in the Sofia Airport Center, as well as in the business centers Expo 2000, East Trace Center, etc. The fact is that when one company moves to a bigger office in Sofia, her former office is immediately taken by another company. This means that the market goes up and that there is positive development for it ahead of time. That is why several new projects for office buildings are being planned and are expected to be implemented. The current rental levels vary from 10.5 Euros to 13 Euros, but there is prognosis for increase in the rental levels to 14-16 Euros/sq.m in the recent years.

A growing number of international and local companies are now looking for offices of class A in new business centers that are still in the of-plan stage, waiting for the start of the construction. That is so, as there are not many large offices available in Sofia to meet the needs of the outsourcing companies that expand their business in Bulgaria. The office projects that were released in 2015 like Capital Fort and Trade Center Europe are already operating and a great percentage of their premises has been rented out.

On the grounds of that serious demand for offices of class A in Sofia, many new office projects have started and the office premises that will be ready by the end of 2015 are believed to reach 100 000 sq.m. The construction companies are stimulated to build new business centers in Sofia as many international companies are relocating their offices in search of larger and more spacious working premises. These outsourcing companies are looking for bigger offices of highest quality.

Currently, the available office space in the most sought after office buildings in Sofia is only 2 %. The rental levels remain the same, though there is a tendency for the rental price to go up.

The high-quality office premises in Sofia have been running out for quite some time and as a result, the rental prices started increasing reaching pre-crises levels. This means that the prices of the class A office premises in Sofia are heading towards the levels 14-16 Euro/sq.m. Due to the lack of supply, many companies are now ready to get offices in off-plan business centers and wait for them to be completed.

Throughout 2015, the office demand in Sofia has increased by 15-20 % with almost no supply at all in the center. According to the data, the number of the available offices in Sofia in the middle of 2015 has dropped to 25 % and to 2 % in the most sought after places in the capital of Bulgaria. Among the most desired business zones in Sofia are placed around the boulevards “Tsarigradsko Shosse”, “Cherni Vrah” and “Dragan Tsankov”.

The recently completed business center Capital Fort, which is also the tallest building in the country, is renting offices fast. These companies are mainly in the high technologies and the IT sectors, as well as the outsourcing. Under construction is the Trade Center Europe near Sofia Airport, where 50 % of the office premises are already rented out. The office market in Sofia is being driven by large companies looking for more spacious office premises of a class A quality.