Forte Partners, the big winner at CIJ Awards 2023!

Best Office Development of the Year, Best Office Lease of the Year >10,000 sqm and Best Retail Lease of the Year. These are the categories in which Forte Partners won prizes at CIJ Awards Gala 2023, all of them related to U•Center 2!

First and foremost, we would like to thank the organizers, CIJ Romania, and our entire team at Forte Partners, who made all this possible through their dedication and hard work!

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The first prize of the evening, an award for Forte Partners!

The first award of the evening was „Best Office Development of the Year”, and the winner was U•Center2.

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„Thank you very much for this award, it is for us a very endeared project indeed. We worked a lot, this is the result of five to seven years of design, execution, and leasing activities”, said Geo Mărgescu, co-founder and CEO of Forte Partners, in his acceptance speech.

Forte Partners put in operation, in September 2023,  the second phase of the U•Center office project, with a GLA of 35,000 square meters. U•Center 2 is the largest building delivered this year in the office market in Bucharest and represents one  third of the total deliveries on this segment in 2023.

This year, leasing agreements were signed for a GLA of over 30.000 sqm in U•Center 2. And this takes us to the next award won by Forte Partners during the 2023 CIJ Awards Gala!

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Best Office Lease of the Year >10,000 sqm

Forte Partners won this award for the 20,000 sqm in U•Center 2 that were leased to a single company and this was the largest transaction this year.

”A big thank you to CIJ and to those who voted for as. There were some big leases in this category, so it is very pleasing to win. As you can imagine, a lease of this size was a huge transaction for us. I think it’s a huge reflection on the efforts and the work of the Forte team”, said Stephen Burke, Construction Director at Forte Partners, in his acceptance speech.

This was not the only award for a lease that Forte Partners has won at the 2023 CIJ AwardsGala, the second one, in a rather unusual category for Forte Partners, taking the audience by surprise.

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Best RetailLease of the Year: Auchan – 2,600 sqm – U•Center 2

U•Center 2 has a retail component on the ground floor, as all the office buildings in Forte portfolio have, in line with Forte Partners' strategy to provide all the facilities and features of modern and comfortable urban living in sustainable and energy-efficient buildings with easy access to public transport, shops, and other social amenities.

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There, Auchan leased a 2,600 sqm space, opened a large supermarket in October 2023 and this transaction was awarded for Best Retail Lease of the Year. The retail area in U•Center 2 was completed in November by Manufaktura The Coffee Shop Restaurant chain, which will open its eighth location, including an outdoor terrace in the close vicinity of Tineretului Park.

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More about U•Center

Visually and functionally improving the area, the project is located between two parks, Tineretului and Carol, on Calea Șerban Vodă, a short walk from Tineretului metro station, a 10-minute walk from Octavian Udriște metro station and with easy access to surface public transport (tram, bus).  

Forte Partners obtained, for the first phase of the project, sold in October 2023 to Pavăl Holding, LEED Platinum certification with a score of 85, one of the highest obtained in Romania for LEED v4 and WELL Health & Safety, and in February 2023 - WELL Platinum certification with a score of 91, the highest recorded in Romania for this type of certification at the time of its achievement. Forte Partners aims to obtain the same certifications for the second phase of U•Center.