Gea Prasa develops EUR 120 mln Bucharest projects

According to Dorinel Cazacu, country manager of Gea Prasa, the development of future projects will have financing from Spanish and Romanian banks. This year, the firm will start construction on the first stage of Laguna Residence development, a luxury residential compound worth EUR 96 million and located on the former sports ground called Keoke. The first stage of the project requires EUR 45 million in investments and will be finished in October 2009, while the entire project's delivery is scheduled for 2011. The first stage of the project consists of the construction of 13 buildings with four to eight levels, delivering 252 apartments with two to five rooms, of 90 to 130 sqm in built area. Gea Prasa officials said that the minimum price in this complex was set at EUR 1,400 per sqm. The entire project spreads over 53,500 sqm and will deliver 500 apartments with 860 parking spaces, commercial spaces, sport and entertainment areas. The latest market reports disclosed an average price for a sqm of land at the former Keoke base of EUR 1,000. The agent in charge of selling the project is Eurisko, which formed a local partnership with the Spanish real estate consultant through its Romanian subsidiary HI Grupo Romania. Gea Prasa's second residential complex will be built on the former land of Muntenia plant starting next year. It will require an investment of EUR 170 million, out of which EUR 30 million represent the cost of the land. The compound will have 2,000 apartments. For the coming years, the Spanish group's investments will focus on EUR 300 million residential projects in Bucharest. The sum covers the budget for acquiring plots of land and residential developments. Prasa, part of the group, is planning a separate development for two residential compounds in Constanta in the near future.

Magda Purice