Humanitas Group has extended its chain of bookstores and opened a fourth store of its kind on the ground floor of the Cismigiu building on Regina Elisabeta boulevard, downtown Bucharest. The 100 year old building was recently restored  by Spanish firm Hercesa and should be soon reopened.

Humanitas CEO Stefan Liiceanu did not disclose the value of the investment but said firm had been waiting many years for a space in the emblematic building and that he hoped the new shop would become a cultural hot spot. The opening took place earlier this week, and several book launch events in the new book shop are in plan for the coming months.

After three years of construction work, Hercesa finalized the building this year. The building was previously home to Hotel Cismigiu and the Gambrinus brewery, famous in the inter-war period.

Humanitas group is 22 years old and includes five companies: Humanitas Publishing House, Humanitas Fiction, Humanitas Multimedia, Humanitas Digital and Bookshops Humanitas, with subsidiaries in 11 cities. The company is owned by Romanian writer Gabriel Liiceanu. His son Stefan Matei is the CEO.

The historic Hotel Cismigiu building was finalized by the Spanish real estate developer Hercesa after an investment of EUR 15 million. The building is now a mixed use project with retail spaces at the ground floor, offices on the mezzanine and the first floor, and a four star apart-hotel from the second to the fifth floor. The building also includes the headquarters of the Cervantes Institute in Bucharest.

Ioana Toader, ioana.toader@romania-insider.com

(photo source: Humanitas' Facebook profile)