Although under DNA investigation, Stirbey Palace could be sold to Hagag Development

Real estate developer Hagag Development Europe wants to take over the Stirbey Palace on Calea Victoriei in Bucharest. The company also recently bought the former Petrom HQ nearby, and wants to integrate both buildings in a real estate project.

Hagag announced that it will invest EUR 8 million in the consolidation and modernization of the former Petrom HQ, which will be completed in the second half of 2019. The building has a total area of ​​7,300 sqm and 6,000 square meters total leasable area.

According to Profit.ro, Hagag is in the process of due diligence for the acquisition of the property owned by a Romanian businessman who rented the palace to a cafe known as Eden Garden.

Hagag Development Europe is also involved in the construction of two luxury real estate projects in Bucharest and the company owns five properties in Bucharest: two plots of land in the Pipera area, a land in the Primaverii area, and two buildings on Calea Victoriei.

Hagag Development Europe might list on Stock Exchanges across Europe.

Read more about

MerchantPro Compass: The eCommerce market grows slow but steady

read more

Stirbey Palace

Stirbey’s Palace was built between 1833-1835 according to the plans of architect Michel Sanjouand, at the order of Barbu Dimitrie Stirbey (1799-1869), at that time great logofat. During his reign (1849-1853 and 1854-1856), Barbu Stirbey used the palace as the royal residence. In 1852, it was modified by Xavier Villacrosse and Moritz von Ott.

The complex remained in the possession of the Stirbey family until 1948 when nationalization took place. Between 1954 and 1977, the palace hosts the Folk Art Museum. In the early 1980s, the Museum of Ceramics and Glass opens here, which will operate until 1994. Between 2001-2004, the palace was recovered by Stirbey’s heirs and sold to a certain Ovidiu Popescu, now deceased.

The businessman launched the idea to convert the palace into a large real estate project, with commercial and residential components with an EUR 120 million investment. But the property generated the first large-scale investigation of the DNA on the destroyed patrimony buildings, a case involving Andrei Chiliman, former Mayor of Sector 1.

Now, the owner is Alexandru, the son of Ovidiu Popescu, and there is no news about the evolution of the project.