An exciting project, influenced by the crisis, has finally had a successful conclusion. Viennese developer Raiffeisen evolution completes Romania's tallest building, the SkyTower (137m), as well as the adjoining office building FCC Office, after almost 2 years of construction work. The whole team is taken by pride and pleasure. “The project almost failed with the beginning of the crisis in 2008. Excavation work had already started, as well as the subsequent works on the floor slab”, says Gerald Beck, Managing Director at Raiffeisen evolution. His director colleague Markus Neurauter adds: ”We had to suspend the building project for some time, reconsider the development and adapt to market changes. In fall 2010 the construction could be taken up again.”
Both buildings already sold
After the re-start of the construction work at the SkyTower and the FCC Office, Raiffeisen evolution pulled off the next coup. The Raiffeisen Property Holding International (RPHI) was found as an investor in the Raiffeisen sector. After long negotiations, the sale was announced in the end of 2011. Starting out as a developer, Raiffeisen evolution had now become a general contractor.
“Stories two to seven of the SkyTower will be used by the Romanian Raiffeisen Bank S.A.. The whole FCC Office building as well. Raiffeisen found its new headquarters here, and united a majority of the employees on the same site”, states Roland Gewessler, director of RPHI. The other stories of the SkyTower are leased by the RPHI, who already started discussions with international companies. A café will open on the ground floor in a few weeks, and the top two floors will accommodate a restaurant with a SkyBar. Detailed negotiations have already been undertaken with a licensee.
In the meantime, the SkyTower was pre-certified according to LEED by the owner Raiffeisen Property Holding International (RPHI) and achieved “gold” status.
District development Floreasca City Center
Since Winter 2011, besides the SkyTower and the FCC Office, the shopping and entertainment center Promenada is emerging, in between the two most important arterial roads in the north of the city, on a 40.000 m² estate, which was purchased in 2005. Construction will also be completed by the end of this year. “Almost 80% of the floor space could already be leased successfully. Peek & Cloppenburg, Zara, H&M, Billa and C&A are just an excerpt of the renowned tenant roster”, says Gerald Beck.
The mall was awarded a pre-certificate in gold by the Austrian Society for Sustainable Real-Estate Management (ÖGNI) and the German Sustainable Building Council (DGNB) in May 2012.
Source: Raiffeisen
