Hercesa hopes Hotel Cismigiu will generate EUR 1.5 million in 2013

Spanish developer Hercesa officially opened today Bucharest’s landmark Hotel Cismigiu which it entirely refurbished following a EUR 15 million investment. The company hopes the complex will generate total revenues of about EUR 1.5 million in 2013, said Mauricio Mesa Gomez, Hercesa’s head.

Hercesa bought the 100-year-old building in 2004 and started reconstruction works in 2008. The hotel’s exterior was refurbished according to the original project while the interior had to be entirely altered.

“We fell in love with this building at the beginning of the 2000s when we entered the Romanian market. We initially wanted to leave the entire building unchanged but its advanced degradation state allowed for only the façade to be preserved,” said Hercesa representatives.

Hotel Cismigiu is presently a mixed project, with hotel apartments as well as office and commercial spaces.

The building’s ground floor is entirely rented and it hosts a Humanitas library and the Cervantes Institute in Bucharest. Next year should also see the re-opening of the legendary Gambrinus Brewery. It was originally opened in 1941 by the famous Romanian writer I.L. Caragiale and was a popular Bucharest meeting place for musicians, writers, journalists and politicians.

The 200 sqm location is now rented by local businessman Ion Borzea who also owns Kristal Club in Bucharest. The brewery will be re-opened in partnership with Heineken.

Hotel Cismigiu also features office spaces and a 4-star hotel with 60 apartments and 7 conference rooms. Georgeta Grecu, the hotel’s general manager expects an occupancy rate of about 50-55 percent for the first year.

The sixth floor will host a 400 sqm rooftop restaurant which hasn’t yet been rented but which the owners hope will be opened in early 2013.

Hotel Cismigiu was built in 1912 by the engineer Nicolae Nacu Pissiota who was also the building’s owner, and the architect Arghir Culina. Back then, it was named Palace Hotel and with its 200 rooms was the largest hotel in the capital.