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Forte Partners announces the lease of over 8,000 square meters in the U•Center office project to Booking Holdings Inc., the world’s leading provider of online travel and related services, for their inaugural Center of Excellence in Bucharest, Romania. The Center serves as a hub for specialized and highly skilled talent, leading industry best practices, software development and collaboration opportunities across Cybersecurity, IT and Finance functions for Booking Holdings and its various brands and business units including: Booking.com, Priceline, Agoda, KAYAK, OpenTable and Rentalcars.com. With the signing of this transaction, the office space in the first phase of U•Center, with a gross leasable area (GLA) of over 32,000 square meters, is 100% leased.
"We are honored and proud that Booking Holdings Inc., a company that carefully selects the office spaces in which it operates in all the countries where it is present, has chosen U•Center for its new Center of Excellence", says Elena Tecuță, Leasing Manager Forte Partners. "This transaction marks the 100% lease-up of the office spaces in U•Center's first phase and is a solid confirmation of Forte Partners' strategy to develop sustainable office projects, built with care for the tenant companies, their employees, and the local communities."
The transaction through which Booking Holdings leased over 8,000 square meters in the first phase of U•Center was advised by Alina Calciu, Head of Advisory & Transaction Services|Occupier at real estate consultancy CBRE Romania.
"This transaction will generate several hundred new quality jobs in Bucharest and we are not only proud to have contributed to its completion, but we are also confident in the local office market, which is attracting more and more Fortune 500 companies, putting Romania on par with more mature markets in the CEE region," explains Alina Calciu, Head of Advisory & Transaction Services | Occupier CBRE Romania. "In addition, it is a very good indicator for 2022 that we are closing a deal in January that represents 10% of the total new and expansion demand last year."
Completed in Q3 2021, the first phase of the U•Center office project obtained LEED Platinum certification with a score of 85, one of the highest LEED v4 certifications obtained in Romania, and WELL Health & Safety, which certifies the sanitary safety of the building in the context of COVID-19. Construction works on the second phase of the project were started in Q2 2021. The two phases of U•Center have a GLA of 63,000 square meters, including a retail component on the ground floors.
About U•Center
Located on Calea Șerban Vodă, a short distance from Tineretului metro station, close to Tineretului and Carol Parks and with easy access to surface public transport (tram, bus), the U•Center office project has a retail component on the ground floor and is developed according to Forte Partners’ strategy to provide all the facilities and features of a modern and comfortable urban living, in sustainable and energy efficient buildings, with easy access to public transport, shops and other social facilities.
About Booking Holdings Inc.
Booking Holdings is the world’s leading provider of online travel and related services, provided to consumers and local partners in more than 220 countries and territories through six primary consumer-facing brands: Booking.com, Priceline, Agoda, Rentalcars.com, KAYAK and OpenTable, bringing greater value to both our customers and partners around the world. The mission of Booking Holdings is to make it easier for everyone to experience the world.
Foto credits: Vlad Pătru
