Sun, Nov 08 2009
Arco Invest Ltd, the Bulgarian subsidiary of Tallinn Stock Exchange-listed Arco Vara, has contracted construction company Glavbolgarstroy-Sofia Jsc to build the second stage of a mixed residential-commercial complex on Sofia's Madrid Boulevard.
Arco Invest will pay Glavbolgarstroy 3.1 million euro for the works, which will include also doing the building's interior.
The Estonian company bought the Madrid project with all required permits on August 2 2007 and said it would invest 20 million euro in a mixed residential-commercial complex with a total built-up area of 24 700 sq m. It was due to be completed in the autumn of 2009.
Arco Vara is a leading real estate developer in the Baltic region, which has begun expanding to central and eastern Europe. The company owns projects in Bulgaria, Ukraine and Romania. The company's consolidated revenues for the first nine months of 2007 stood at 44 million euro and its net profit amounted to 17 million euro.
Office rent transactions peaked at 65 000 sq m between July and September 2008, but collapsed to 10 700 sq m in Q3 2009, Forton manager Sergei Koinov said.
Most potential buyers are now opting to buy a luxury flat in the range of 120 000 to 150 000 euro or a single family home for about 500 000 euro.
About 30 000 to 35 000 people employed in the construction sector were facing redundancies in 2010, Bulgaria's Regional Development Minister Rossen Plevneliev said on October 26.
Average market prices of housing in Bulgaria dropped five per cent in July-September, measured quarter-on-quarter, the National Statistical Institute said on October 23 2009.
The European Investment Bank (EIB) has released a 43.5 million euro loan to Sofia Municipality, for infrastructure projects worth 88.1 million euro in total