PPF Real Estate Holding, owned by Czech billionaire Petr Kellner, is in talks to buy the Crystal Tower office building, according to sources, in a deal valued at about EUR 35 million. The Czechs have already acquired Metropolis Center in 2016.
Crystal Tower, of around 20,000 sqm GLA, was completed in 2011 by Romanian businessman Michael Stanciu, the owner of Search Corporation, and is leased by ING.
PPF Real Estate Holding Fund entered due diligence two years ago to acquire the America House office project in Victoriei Square.
America House is currently owned by the French investment fund AEW Europe, which bought the project in 2007 for EUR 120 million and put it up for sale in 2016. Market sources said that the building was already acquired by Morgan Stanley, but the information hasn’t been confirmed yet.
The Piata Victoriei area, extremely tempting for real estate investors, has GTC investment fund, the developer of America House and Piata Presei’s City Gate as the most active buyers in the area, after the takeover of Premium Point and Premium Plaza for EUR 30 million euros in April 2016 and Cascade Office in July 2017.