There is still a lot to want for
Equest Balkan Properties also bought the Serdika Hotel, a three-star hotel with 131 rooms that will be fully modernised and renovated in the city centre of Sofia, for roughly ten million Euros. This puts the focus on another area that is scarce in the city centre, as Petar Dikov, Chief Architect of Sofia revealed at EXPO REAL. According to him, there is a general lack of modern office space based on international standards, as well as logistics space, parking lots in the city centre and residential housing.

According to CB Richard Ellis (CBRE) reports, the volume of office space in Sofia is roughly 518,000 square metres; of that, around 30 percent fulfils international standards. Even though an average of 100,000 square metres of office space was completed in 2004 and 2005, the speed of development has meanwhile slowed down noticeably. The reason for this is not a shortage in demand. In fact, Sofia is turning into a renter’s market where, for Class-A office space — depending on the location — between 15 and 21 Euros per square metre and month are being asked for and paid. The shortage of suitable land properties more negatively influences the market. This is particularly the case for the Central Business District. As an alternative, new office locations are springing up in Midtown Sofia and along the large access roads — a development that can be seen as well in other major Central and Eastern European cities with a historical city centre.

Growing demand for modern housing
Such a cluster is developing around the airport, for example. Here, the German Lindner Holding has been developing the Business Park Sofia over the past few years, which offers a Holiday Inn Hotel, as well as shopping opportunities, next to office space and a cinema. Now Lindner AG Bulgaria, which has meanwhile developed into one of the ten largest building companies in the country, is planning the Residential Park Sofia. Directly near the Business Park Sofia, on an area of roughly 215,000 square metres 900 residential units in single-family homes, townhouses and multi-family homes will be developed. The draft for the residential park comes from the Munich-based architects Steidle + Partner, who are planning a roughly 60-percent green space.