Raluca Munteanu, IULIUS: A Relevant Urban Regeneration Project Is Like a Successful Orchestra Concert

The end of the year is a time to reflect on what has been achieved and on the plans for the future. For real estate, 2023 was a balanced year, with major projects opening across all the segments, new investments announced, and a moderate level of business.  Some defining announcements came from IULIUS Company, one of the most active developers in the Romanian real estate in recent years: the largest office building in the country (Palas Campus) opened this spring, a half-billion Euro mixed-use project in the final permitting stages located in Cluj-Napoca, as a reconversion of a former industrial platform following the relocation and upgrade of the factory, as well as the announcement of a partnership signed for an 800-plus million Euro investment in Constanța, spanning 38 hectares that are currently out of use.

In an interview about how to build projects that can change the story of a city and boost its development, Raluca Munteanu, Development Manager at IULIUS, revealed that at the core of such projects lies a strategy that relies heavily on a healthier, greener, and more active future, that is closer to the people.

How does IULIUS view its projects?

Read more about

Oana Diaconescu, IULIUS: We have a pipeline of investment projects of over €1.3 billion

read more

IULIUS is building destinations, cities within cities, but not in the way of enclosed spaces, quite the opposite. It is building destinations custom made for the needs of the communities where it is developing and starting from their very identity–which is essentially what makes us different. We do not take the same project scheme from a city and apply it to another site, which is exactlywherein lies our uniqueness. The common thread through every city and each of our developments is the mixed-use concept, the idea of bringing together multiple uses in a single place. The actual uses and their ratios of the total mix, as well as the architectural concept are all adapted to the city in question and, particularly, to the identity of its residents. This is what we understood more clearly over time and what defines the impact and success of our projects, which become integral parts of the community. I will not say it is easy, because it definitely is not, but fully understanding a city, how it works, and how people live in it has become the first and most important step we take.

All IULIUS projects have parks at their core. The green space is more than a zoning indicator for us, it is in fact a guideline for any architectural concept we initiate. We were the first to embrace this type of differentiating element and it was indeed complicated to explain to our financers that we have to invest tens of millions of Euro in trees, flowers, and lawns–which are all elements that do not bring in direct income, but with a great impact on the city and the people. Even now, Palas Iași is a project whose park is the main attraction and the only place in the city where you are allowed to step on the grass. In Cluj, we can see people jogging by the lake in the morning and then having their coffee on the lawn. In Timișoara, clients named a family of ducks who decided to live on our lake. There are many examples I could give, but they all convey a simple message: our projects broke the barriers of a mere shopping center, being a part of the locals’ lives.

Another major distinctive element is that we are one of the few developers whose investment budgets also include major infrastructure reconfiguration works. We design our projects to include a complete restructuring of their surrounding area, so the entire architectural concept is aligned with an adequate traffic solution. For instance, Timișoara marked our first ever four lane underpass, which completed a major traffic hub in the city. For our upcoming development in Cluj, we will create a road bridge and two pedestrian bridges across the river, roundabouts, and street widenings. Just these days we opened a newly created two lane street in Palas Campus Iași, thus streamlining the traffic downtown.

What do you look for when choosing your next destination on the investment map?

There are two main elements we look for when studying a new development: the potential of the city and that of the site. As far as the potential of the city is concerned, we use important studies, such as those published by the World Bank, on the one hand, as well as by local partnerships. This helps us understand the local needs and strategic development directions.

As for the potential of the site, it is important for it to have a good, central location, so that we may integrate it within the city, but also to have an adequate size for our development models. It is essential to be able to accommodate all the uses that we conclude, alongside the locals, that the city needs, while also ensuring a distinctive feature that transforms the project into a destination.

This is how we ended up putting Constanța on the map of IULIUS developments. Constanța is an urban center with extraordinary human resources, a tourism hotspot, the center of a county with half a million residents, and it has immense potential. We like to believe that we will be among the first to help the people of Constanța to achieve this unique potential.

You develop central areas. What are the advantages and disadvantages of building in downtown areas?

The focus IULIUS has on premium ultra–central locations created a harmonious blend of accessibility, vitality, and sustainability. We are always carefully selecting locations that have high value–including sentimental value–for the community, where the pulse of the city is felt the strongest. These places provide a strategic edge, ensuring easy access to the main points of interest, favoring a vibrant community, and relieving the pressure on transit networks.

Each project is designed as an experience for the respective community, an experience that authentically resonates with the spirit of each city. Our firm commitment to quality drew more than 1,000 retail partners, 130 headquarters of international corporations, 35,000 employees within our projects, and clients who keep coming back to us. The figures speak for themselves: almost 100% occupancy in the retail and office segments and more than 70 million annual visits stand evidence for IULIUS’ capacity to attract both residents and the business community.

What is the most challenging aspect in developing an urban regeneration project?

If I’m being honest, I would say endurance. The truth is our projects are extremely complex. We set out to complete major projects in a very short time, and this is only possible if the architectural concept drafting, the leasing process, community stakeholder discussions, obtaining bank financing, outlining the investment structure, and obtaining the permits are all carried out simultaneously in the development process. In this context, however, any change in one part impacts the other, which is why it constantly feels like walking on quicksand. It is a beautiful process, but it is also oftentimes a painful one, because it puts pressure on the team.

It also takes patience to earn the confidence of those around you. All the projects we have developed thus far, however beneficial for the communities, were only possible through the general feeling that we were tearing up a piece of the city to make them happen. Certainly, these are underutilized areas or basically premises that were closed off to the general public, but we must acknowledge that they once meant something for at least a part of the population, however small or large. It is important to acknowledge and embrace this feeling.

Therefore, if we are together today in any project, it is also because this is how we understand to build, i.e. by listening to each other and learning from one another, and by acknowledging the needs and limitations of each party. This is the only way to achieve constructive dialogue and results to match. I believe that we are essentially a community with a common goal, i.e. the good of the cities that we live in and love. So, paradoxically, building is not the most difficult part, but rather having the courage to speak up, to rethink, to pause, and to embrace fresh approaches. These are aspects that helped us grow and brought us to where we are today.

We are coming upon the end of the year. How do you see the IULIUS projects evolving for the future?

The major challenge for any developer is to build for the future, considering how unpredictable the future is. Our commitment to sustainability is not merely a formality. Whether we are talking about generating energy from renewable sources or about gardens that provide a refuge in the urban hustle and bustle, we set out to become even greener and to implement even more technological innovation in every new project.

The world we live in is increasingly divided by physical and digital barriers, and the IULIUS mixed-use projects are a catalyst for social connectivity. They show us the power of integrative approaches to stimulate a sense of community and common goal.

As we look toward the future, the vision IULIUS has for mixed-use development feels like a promise, i.e. the promise to support, through what we are doing, the development of cities in an interconnected and sustainable manner, where the people and the places they occupy are growing together harmoniously. I don’t have to reiterate our arguments, because they have been apparent for more than 10 years now, in the time elapsed, for instance, since opening Palas, the first mixed-use urban regeneration project in Romania. The investments that IULIUS Group made in the cities of Romania have proven their capacity to be built in the present, but also catering to the future. More than 35,000 people are now working in our projects and were able to choose to stay in Romania, because they had great opportunities that also came into being from the investments we have brought about. We built responsibly, showcased the identity of the cities, and–perhaps most importantly–we helped increase the quality of life for the communities. This is what we set out to do further on.

If I look to the future, I believe the dialogue with the civil society is what empowers us to check if what we are building is relevant for the city. Do the residents need what we are offering? Do we continue to remain relevant? It is like a successful concert by an orchestra, if you will, where everybody has their own place and the ultimate goal is to achieve a harmony of all the scores of those involved and to have as many voices as possible being heard. When you look around and realize that all you can hear is your own voice, this is usually a sign that you are not on the right track.