Romanian real estate developer Iulius Group, owned by local businessman Iulian Dascalu, has started working on its EUR 220 million mixed real estate project in Timisoara, which will include the tallest office building in Romania.

The project, which is called Openville, features office and retail spaces, as well as a park and an entertainment area. The first works to be carried out will focus on the office component, namely the United Business Center 2 (UBC 2) class A office building, located near the Iulius Mall.

The building will span on 18,000 sqm, on 11 floors, and will be completed by the end of 2016. The company has already signed partnerships with outsourcing group Ness Software Engineering Services, and with private healthcare group Regina Maria, which will open here its first clinic in Timisoara. The building will be completed by the end of 2016.

The first development stage of the Openville ensemble will be completed during the last quarter of 2017 and will comprise 80,000 sqm class A office spaces, retail spaces and the park. This will also include the tallest building in Romania, which will be 155 meters high. The second development stage includes the development of office spaces up to a total of 131,000 sqm, depending on the market demands.

Openville will also create the largest suspended park in Romania, a green space spanning on over 55,000 sqm.

This is the group’s second multifunctional project, after its investment in Iasi called Palas Iasi, which required EUR 265 million investments.

The company plans to contract a syndicated loan to finance the new investment.

Iulius Group currently owns the only shopping mall in Timisoara Iulius Mall, but NEPI will soon open a new mall called Shopping City Timisoara. Israeli group Plaza Centers also wants to build Timisoara Plaza commercial center, whereas investor Ali Ergun Ergen plans to invest in another shopping center called Timisoara Centrum.

However, Iulian Dascalu doesn’t fear the competition and says that most of the retail and office projects planned in the cities where he operates won’t go through.

Iulius Group owns a national retail network, including four shopping malls under the Iulius brand (Iulius Mall Iasi, Iulius Mall Timisoara, Iulius Mall Cluj, and Iulius Mall Suceava) and the Palas Iasi mixed-use urban ensemble. The office component of the company includes over 58,000 sqm of fully operating class A office spaces, as well as other 155,000 sqm currently pending construction.

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editor@romania-insider.com