A mixed real estate project, Oradea Plaza is strategically located in the busy urban city center and has a total leasable area around 7,900 sqm approximately equally split between Class A office space and retail space and has future expansion potential over the ca. 2400 sqm of land available for development. Oradea Plaza is host to tenants from multiple domains, such as banking or telephone services, pharmacies, cafes, fashion stores and a children's playground, including eMag, Carrefour, Staer, Sensiblu, Medlife, NN or BRD. The complex delivered in July 2010 by international Real Estate Investor Portico Investments includes the first A Class office building developed in Oradea’s city center.
"Interest in the acquisition of Oradea Plaza was significant both from international and local investors. Oradea is a city that has developed very impressively in recent years, having a reputation of good governance and attracting hundreds of millions of euros from EU development funds as well as private investments. The city shows significant further potential for economic and real estate development", says Robert Miklo, Investment Services Director at Colliers International.
The sale fits the strategy of Portico Investments who is currently looking to enlarge its footprint in Romania by focusing on acquisition of more single tenant convenience retail in the Capital and other major cities in the country. Following the acquisition of Oradea Plaza, the local investor Lotus Center, that also owns Lotus Retail Park, Oradea Shopping City, Trade Center and Lotus Center, becomes the largest real estate player in the retail segment of Oradea.
"In the past, Romania had a limited pool of local investors in the real estate market. However, as the market gradually becomes more mature, local investors including Romanian entrepreneurs with strong businesses in the main regional centers in the country are gaining momentum. Only in the last two years, transactions of commercial real estate assets involving local investors surpassed 400 million euros”, says Simina Niculita, Partner & Head of Retail Agency at Colliers International.
The value of investments with local capital represented, in 2019, about a quarter of the total real estate investments made in Romania, and the positive evolution in recent years has been accelerated. Looking ahead, there is important potential for increasing local investments in real estate in 2020, which could turn out to be the best year for real estate investments in Romania in the post-crisis period.
About Colliers International
Colliers International (NASDAQ, TSX: CIGI) is a leading global real estate services and investment management company. With operations in 68 countries, our 14,000 enterprising people work collaboratively to provide expert advice and services to maximize the value of property for real estate occupiers, owners and investors. For more than 20 years, our experienced leadership team, owning more than 40% of our equity, have delivered industry-leading investment returns for shareholders. In 2018, corporate revenues were $2.8 billion ($3.3 billion including affiliates), with more than $26 billion of assets under management.
