Flexible approach wins Valad tenants

Valad has seen demand for its projects in Romania grow over the past two quarters.

The real estate investment manager Valad signed leases totalling 5,328 sqm in the first quarter of 2012 for space at the A1 Business Park and at the Domnesti Business Park in Romania.“The business sectors driving demand this year have been printing and publishing, small distribution and auto,” says Silviana Badea, Valad country manager for Romania. “We have received requests for various-sized units, the highest of which was for 1,000 sqm to 2,000 sqm. Fortunately we are one of the few property owners which can offer flexibility to clients, offering spaces from 500 sqm up to 6,000 sqm.”

At the A1 Business Park, Cummins, a global designer and manufacturer of diesel engines, has agreed to renew its lease on 1,249 sqm of industrial space for a further three years. This is in fact the only renewal: the rest of the deals are new lettings. Studio Moderna has decided to expand its leased area by an extra 716 sqm, while the new tenants include Elixir Press (1,229 sqm), Santech System (167 sqm), Servicii, Curatenie, Rapiditate (102 sq m), Apshanu Group (685 sqm) in A1 Business Park and Profilog (200 sqm), BSS (204 sqm) and Europarts (776 sqm) in Domnesti Business Park.

Badea claims that current market signals are encouraging for industrial, production and warehouse spaces ranging between 1,000 and 3,000 sqm. “Demand increased in Q1 2012 by 48 percent for our parks as compared to Q4 2011, and by 20 percent as compared to the same period of last year,” says Badea. “However, we tend to be cautious rather than too optimistic. 2011 had a similarly promising first half of the year, which was cancelled out by stagnation in Q4.” She said Valad’s strategy in attracting and keeping its clients is to offer flexibility on the length of the contracts. “In addition, we offer flexible spaces with multiple expansion possibilities,” she explains. Located on the A1 Highway, the A1 Business Park provides small and medium-sized quality office, commercial and warehousing space in the Bucharest area. Existing tenants include DHL, Coelco Trade, Isolier, Orange Media, Europapier and Sanirom.

Meantime, located next to Bucharest’s west ring road, Domnesti Business Park has excellent transport links via the A1 motorway to Pitesti/Timisoara/Nadlag and via the A2 motorway to Constanta Port. The park comprises units ranging in size from 200 sqm to 2,000 sqm and is currently let to a variety of tenants that include Dobrogea Grup, Wilkinson, Regency and D&L Automotive. The two parks still have a number of spaces available, ranging in size from 120 sqm to 3,000 sqm for offices (€6-8/sq m/month) and between 600 (€4.2/sq m/month) and 6,000 sqm for warehouses (€3.9 /sq m/month). In CEE, Valad’s team manages 22 properties with 260 tenants from its offices in Bucharest, Budapest, Warsaw and Prague.