Real estate developer Raiffeisen Evolution has sold its future high-rise Sky Tower office building in Bucharest to Raiffeisen Property InternationaI GmbH but will continue to work on the project as a turnkey contractor, the company has announced. Once completed at the end of 2012, the 37-storey building in Northern Bucharest will host the headquarters of Raiffeisen Bank in Romania, on five floors. Sky Tower will become the tallest building in Bucharest, at some 137 meters. The litigation embroiled Tower Center International, close to Piata Victoriei, is currently Bucharest's tallest at 120 meters.

Raiffeisen Evolution will also work as a developer on a seven – storey office building called Floreasca Office, adjoining Sky Tower, and the Promenada Shopping Center, all part of a compound called Floreasca City. Raiffeisen Bank will also occupy the 16,000 sqm Floreasca Office. The bank's current headquarters are in Charles de Gaulle building also in Northern Bucharest.

“Romania is and will remain an extremely important market for us in Central and Eastern Europe, a market with a considerable potential. The planned relocation to Sky Tower is a proof of that trust,” said Herbert Stepic, head of the board with Raiffeisen Bank International. The comment comes at a time when all eyes are on foreign banks and their exposure on Romania.

Construction of the sky-scraper is ongoing and has now reached the 12th floor. Sky Tower will have 50,000 sqm of built area and will provide 518 parking places.

Corina Saceanu, corina@romania-insider.com

(photo source: Raiffeisen Evolution)