Moreover, owners in this neighborhood must also compete against owners of office spaces to be delivered in 2009 and 2010, in areas such as Barbu Vacarescu and Floreasca, which provide easier access to Bucharest’s center, who are beginning to negotiate more flexible rents.
“I do not believe that office building owners in areas such as Pipera will be forced to close their buildings. In the worst case, they will remain with empty spaces in the medium-term, for three-four years, and then will be forced to negotiate some payment extensions with the banks for the reimbursement of loans, or cut rents significantly to attract clients,” the Managing Partner of Colliers International Romania, Bogdan Georgescu, said.
According to him, the minimum monthly rent that owners could demand is €10 per square meter, for one-two years, until the crisis passes. “Buildings in the Pipera area, which are currently in the construction phase, are facing occupancy rate problems, but I believe these will be solved within one year, at most. It is possible that the owners of these spaces will reduce rents to €10 per square meter per month to attract clients, because companies are presently considering cutting costs, and those located downtown, paying rents of €20, are thinking about moving to less expensive locations,” the Chief Executive Officer of Coldwell Banker’s American office in Romania, Valentin Ilie, said.
