ESPLANADA CITY CENTER BUCHAREST - http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=496243
Since this will be the best project (highest proposed towers / value approx 1 billion Euro ) for Bucharest it deserves its own thread. Please post comments pictures, info, renders etc

http://img108.imageshack.us/img108/872/56808821ch0.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

http://img127.imageshack.us/img127/3991/81116125vd4.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

http://img122.imageshack.us/img122/4765/04bi1.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Latest (found) official news ...
http://img233.imageshack.us/img233/3909/76713159ph4.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

TriGranit Romania to pony up EUR2 Bln to develop a host of real estate projects

NewsIn, May 17, 2007 - TriGranit Romania is aiming to invest 2 billion euros in several real estate projects in the country over the next five years, according to a company official.

Some 1 billion euros have already been poured into the Esplanada project in Bucharest, whose contract will be signed in the summer, according to Bucharest’s general mayor, Adriean Videanu. Negotiations will be completed at the end of June.

“We are looking for land in Brasov, Arad and Craiova to develop real estate projects similar to the Polus Centers in Cluj and Constanta,” said Torok Arpad, development director for Romania.

Polus Center will be the largest mall in Cluj Napoca county and is scheduled for completion in October this year. Construction works started in 2005 and total investments amount to 140 million euros.

www.roconsulboston.com


:okay: The project was presented at CEPIF Budapest & Bucharest 10 – 13 October 2006. So its just a matter of time untill it kicks off :cheers:

http://img68.imageshack.us/img68/945/01wc5.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Esplanada City Center is designed by the german-american architect Helmut Jahn.

Don`t forget that we have many other good&big projects in Bucharest (BUCHAREST`S MANHATTAN, SEMA PARK, CITY GATE, NEO PARK, ASMITA GARDEN, NEOPENINSULA, NEORESIDENCE, BUCHAREST TOWER CENTER, CEFIN TOWER, GEMINI TWIN TOWERS, FLOREASCA CITY CENTER etc.). We will open other threads soon on those projects. I can`t wait to see Bucharest in 5-10 years. Things change so fast ! :cheers:

^^ First prize 2006 :cheers: - http://www.schmidt-landschaftsarchitekten.de/index2.php

also - http://www.schmidt-landschaftsarchitekten.de/aktuelles_news.php?id=40

http://img245.imageshack.us/img245/2814/21993157xu6.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

... and inside the "glass tent" design

http://img129.imageshack.us/img129/2061/56451968dd8.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showpost.php?p=12977069&postcount=345

also ...

Esplanada site:
http://img165.imageshack.us/img165/3140/esplww0.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

http://img402.imageshack.us/img402/5918/eslx9.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Latest (found) news ... the contract to be signed by end of June 2007 (so it should have been signed already) and construction to start in May-June 2008

COMUNICAT - http://www.bucuresti-primaria.ro/

Why the construction will start next year ? :bash: Is it sure your information ? We waited few years to see that they sign the contract and start to work on this project. Trigranit announced this project few years ago. Till now, the stupid obstacle was the unclear status of that land but now, why they need almost one year to start the work ?:bash: I know that it takes time to design such a project but they had all the time to do it in the last 2-3 years !

I hope that they will start soon ! As I also hope that they (Trigranit) will do a good job in Constanta (Romania) as they already announced that they have similar plans for Ljubljana (Slovenia), Zagreb (Croatia) and Constanta (Romania) ! (http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showpost.php?p=12960331&postcount=336) :cheers:

What's the height of this project, in meters?

In the Romanian newspapers they have been talking about 250m/70 floors. However, I have not seen or heard of any official proposed height (developer or city hall announcements).

Why the construction will start next year ? :bash: Is it sure your information ?

http://www1.pmb.ro/pmb/primar/cpresa/2007/comunicate/com_2007-05-23_c.htm

23.05.2007
Compartimentul pentru Relatia cu Mass-Media
etaj I, camera 133
tel: 305 55 03; fax: 305 55 04
e-mail: presa@bucuresti-primaria.ro

And a picture from Real Vienna, 23 May 2007 where the project was presented to potential investors

http://img79.imageshack.us/img79/715/01oo3.png (http://imageshack.us)

More renders ...

http://img502.imageshack.us/img502/5069/71983611iq0.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

http://img394.imageshack.us/img394/6373/90579757jv2.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Ohh It is fascinating :) Congratulations!

http://img108.imageshack.us/img108/872/56808821ch0.jpg (http://imageshack.us)



More renders ...

http://img502.imageshack.us/img502/5069/71983611iq0.jpg (http://imageshack.us)


i can see they simplified the shape of 'Brancusi Tower'. or maybe it s another proposal.
anyway, it will be a piece of art when finished:cheers:

In the Romanian newspapers they have been talking about 250m/70 floors. However, I have not seen or heard of any official proposed height (developer or city hall announcements).

250 Meter, is very high for Europe!

^^ To be honest with you I personally think that the two main towers will have max. 50 floor and the "cylinder" will be 250m including the spire(s). Will have to wait the official details :cheers: I hope I am wrong :nuts:

^^ Anyway, it seems there will be at least 6 buildings over 100m high, including the tent.

Romania is finally on SSC map :cheers:

OMG :shocked: now I realize looking at the area where is the project locate..thats is right where I work..we are evacuting an office building right in front of the future construction site :)

Impressive.

TriGranit $1Billion Bucharest Project Moves Forward

Expropriations for Esplanada project
Bucharest Business Daily - May 24, 2006 by Ciprian Domnisoru

The initial one billion dollar investment for the 800,000 square meters Esplanada Project could attract up to three billion in further investments. :cheers: The government will lease the project to developer TriGranit for 49 years. Owners that will refuse the City Hall offer for the purchase of properties on the site of the Esplanada real estate project will be expropriated, [finally!:cheers: ] as the construction project is considered to be of public utility, announced Mayor of Bucharest Adriean Videanu yesterday. "If owner demands are above the evaluation we shall have to resort to expropriation. There are some owners with high demands, but municipality cannot hold separate negotiations, we will pay the same price to each owner," mentioned Videanu. The 10.7 hectares downtown Bucharest site is 70 percent owned by citizens or is being claimed by former owners. The Ministry of Transportation currently owns much of the claimed land. Authorities have received 25 retrocession claims for 55 percent of the necessary land and 17 owners agreed on the price offered by City Hall. However, land prices in the area exceed 1,000 euros per square meter, a price City Hall is not prepared to pay. The government and Bucharest City Hall have designed Esplanada as an office space, retail and housing project. Esplanada will be built through a public-private partnership with multinational company TriGranit, which will ante up one billion in financing. The memorandum for the project was signed yesterday by Delegate Minister for Public Works Laszlo Borbely and the president of the TriGranit Group, Nathaniel Rothschild.

Construction of the project will begin next year and the first stage of the project, namely the construction of office buildings, retail spaces and the commercial center, will be complete in seven to ten years, announced TriGranit executive director Todd Cowen. "We are optimistic about the start date of the project. City Hall gave reassurances on the prompt settling of problems related to land," Cowen said.

The residential and green areas will be built in the second stage. The complex will have 210,000 square meters of office spaces, a 90,000 square meter residential area and 120,000 square meters of retail and entertainment spaces. In addition, TriGranit will build a cultural center and 270,000 square meters of parking spaces. "We want to build a symbol for Romania. The complex could be a tourist attraction and all the more reason for multinational companies to invest in Romania," Cowen added.

The developer is holding talks with representatives of the Guggenheim Museum in view of the opening of a center in Bucharest.
According to the memorandum signed yesterday, the land will be leased to the TriGranit company for 49 years, after which the residential, office and retail spaces will be administered by the Romanian state.

Until then, the State could administer several buildings or receive part of the profit. The government will establish the procedure shortly. "I personally like the scenario that the Romanian state receives one, two or three buildings and I believe it is best we take over the cultural center," said Minister Borbely. The Esplanada project will be later handed over to Bucharest City Hall. "We thought it was necessary to involve City Hall in this project. We will gradually hand the entire project over to Bucharest municipalities, as it is a project of the inhabitants of Bucharest. City Hall needs to solve the land and utility problems," Borbely said.

TriGranit Development Corporation, founded in 1997 is American, Canadian, British and Hungarian owned and does most of its business in Central and Eastern Europe. The company intends to invest 1.5 billion euros in Romania over the next few years in Bucharest, Cluj and Constanta. TriGranit is also interested in the finalization of works on the National Library, but after works on the Esplanada Project are complete.

Excellent!Bravo komshii!

:bowtie:

http://img122.imageshack.us/img122/4765/04bi1.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

:bow: :bow: :bow: O-u-t-s-t-a-n-d-i-n-g project :bow: :bow: :bow:

Wow! Looks huge and will fit in nicely with the massive buildings nearby. Great.

^^ What massive buildings nearby? :)

http://img20.imageshack.us/img20/7616/esplanadtf21ow4.png (http://imageshack.us)

^^ This one crossed with red you mean?!?! Others are apartments

Existing (2007)
http://inlinethumb39.webshots.com/3238/1219954399061244061S600x600Q85.jpg (http://travel.webshots.com/photo/1219954399061244061sgzQDR)

Proposed/Aproved (2010)
http://img165.imageshack.us/img165/3272/32833126nu3.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

^^ ^^

http://img522.imageshack.us/img522/5609/87245470iz0.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Cost 100 mill Euro

Yaah...The National Library ...

100 mil. Euro from whose money? Hopefully Bucharest's as I'm not willing to pay taxes just so they could cover that ugly building of theirs with some glass.

^^ they already started works on the National Library they've removed the ugly remains from the fire that turned it into an ugly looking building

i think d29 is right about spending those money in the way they planned.
that building should dissapear to make place for some new avangardist design.
there are many buildings remained as from comunist times, no need to conservate them...
just have to forget the past and move on:)

They started and finished it long time ago 1986-1989 ...:nuts:

http://img413.imageshack.us/img413/8459/38091684ra0.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

http://img72.imageshack.us/img72/6986/83453720tc2.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

We easily recognize the style of Brancusi at one of the skyscrapers (see `Endless Column` of Brancusi). Unfortunately, skyscrapers/project with this design already exist in other cities (for instance, Frankfurt: http://www1.cie.nl/projects/architecture/high-rise/ecb,-frankfurt.aspx , Hearst Magazine in New York ... ) ! Constantin Brancusi was a famous romanian sculptor and it is nice to have a symbol of Brancusi in Bucharest but it seems that it is not at all the first skyscraper having this design ! :bash: However, let`s hope that we will do something better and everithing will be ok ! :cheers:

They should make a skyscraper similar to the "Bird In Space":

http://www.guggenheim.org/exhibitions/brancusi/images/highlight_5.jpg

If it's technically feasible, which I doubt.

An engineer would say: of course it’s feasible :cheers:

BTW ...

http://img68.imageshack.us/img68/945/01wc5.jpg
^^ could be 70 floors; the block of flats (white ones) are approx 10-11 floors


To whom doesn't know about Brancusi and the "Endless Column" that inspired the architects that designed one of the Esplanada towers ...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constantin_Brancusi

http://img249.imageshack.us/img249/2263/28106840ud4.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

^^ Brancusi's "Endless Column" - Targu-Jiu, Romania

"Create like a god, command like a king, work like a slave"

WOW!!
:eek2::eek2:
Is this project approved?
:?

Masterplan approved. However, height not confirmed yet

Old render ...

http://img524.imageshack.us/img524/5323/42873567eh0.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

As another big project, Bucharest Manhattan (2 x 45f Floors, 6 x 30f, 5 x 28f, 7 x 20f ) also was approved and as we have many other skyscrapers projects in Bucharest, it seems that Bucharest grows faster than we expected few years ago ! No doubt it will kick asses sooner than we though !:cheers:

This is a very bold project!

Romania clearly is profiting from joining the EU, very good! :)

Old render ...

http://img524.imageshack.us/img524/5323/42873567eh0.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

That on the left and the tallest in the center remind me the proposals for Puerto Triana, in Sevilla.

Yaa... I saw those nice projects from Sevilla and you are right ! :)

Pretty cool project! Eastern Europe is rising up... ;)

Wow nice stuff

"Red Bull ROmaniacs" ... on future Esplanada site :banana:

http://img511.imageshack.us/img511/9981/95534918xj3.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

http://img410.imageshack.us/img410/6011/58978781if4.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

http://img511.imageshack.us/img511/9918/77801283fx4.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

MKhB196LRyQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKhB196LRyQ

Old new s ... March 2007
www.propertyeu.info

"In the Romanian capital the sky is the limit.

As a result, the height of the towers planned for Esplanada is not yet known, even though the project is scheduled to get under way this year. Toader: 'We will start with the so-called Forum and in the meantime we will plan the towers. The Forum will form the heart of the complex. It looks like a gigantic circus tent without walls, a huge construction of steel and glass resting on a single mast. Esplanada will be a symbol of prosperity. We expect to finish it in 2014."

^^ Do not think so ... but 2015 is good enough for me :cheers:

also ...

Trigranit seem to have improved their website lately - www.trigranit.com ;and guess what hey they got on first page ?!? :nuts: ;)

Espanada City Center - Bucharest :cheers:

http://img512.imageshack.us/img512/2015/e1hy3.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

and info ... as on the web ...

http://img512.imageshack.us/img512/3051/e2sm6.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Reshaping the city

The Esplanada Project aims the functional conversion of the site bordered by Unirii Avenue, Nerva Traian Street, Octavian Goga Avenue and Mircea Voda Avenue, on a surface of 107,140 m2 and with a direct investment of 1 billion Euro and with a related investment of 2 to 3 billion Euro. Esplanada will provide shopping, living, working and leisure functions integrated into a mixed-use urban community envisaged within a city environment of streets, plazas and gardens.
Esplanada City Center will offer a unique cultural centre in Romania involving a national concert hall, Guggenheim Museum and a multifunctional cultural space. For this project implementation, the public private partnership seemed as the ideal financing option.
The project will create thousands of construction jobs and thousands of full time employment opportunities. The Esplanada will be the new symbol of Bucharest and Romania’s future as a new city center, a place of life, 24 hours per day.

• Commencement of construction: 2008
• Project opening: 2010
• Investment in million Euro: 1,000
• Gross buildable area (m2): 880,000
• Function: retail and entertainment, office, residential, cultural
• Designer: Murphy & Jahn

^^ http://www.trigranit.com/index.php?p=project&id=24&page=1

few time till this big project will commence :) :banana:

http://img154.imageshack.us/img154/2108/80322895wa8.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

In Bucharest:
ESPLANADA CITY CENTER BUCHAREST - http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=496243
Since this will be the best project (highest proposed towers / value approx 1 billion Euro ) for Bucharest it deserves its own thread. Please post comments pictures, info, renders etc

http://img108.imageshack.us/img108/872/56808821ch0.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

http://img127.imageshack.us/img127/3991/81116125vd4.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

http://img122.imageshack.us/img122/4765/04bi1.jpg (http://imageshack.us)


In Astana :D
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/18/Astana1.svg/154px-Astana1.svg.pnghttp://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3c/Kazakhstan-Astana.png/250px-Kazakhstan-Astana.png


Khan Shatyry Entertainment Centre
Astana, Kazakhstan

General Information

Height, m
~150m
Floors
8 fl + tent
Architects
Foster & Partners, Linea Tusavul Architecture,
Gultekin Architecture
Client
Sembol(TR)
Cost
$150mln
Total Area.
100 000 square meters
Construction Begin
2006
Construction End
2008



Project Brief

The Khan Shatyry Entertainment Centre in Astana will become a dramatic civic focal point for the capital of Kazakhstan. The soaring structure, at the northern end of the new city axis, rises from a 200m elliptical base to form the highest peak on the skyline of Astana.


Project Description

Khan Shatyry (Royal Marquee) is a giant transparent tent currently under construction in Astana, capital city of Kazakhstan. The architectural project was unveiled by the President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev on 9 December 2006.

The 150m-high (500ft) tent has a 200m elliptical base covering 100,000 square meters. Underneath the tent, an area larger than 10 football stadiums, will be an urban-scale internal park, shopping and entertainment venue with squares and cobbled streets, a boating river, shopping centre, minigolf and indoor beach resort. It is being made from ETFE suspended on a network of cables strung from a central spire. The transparent material allows sunlight through which, in conjunction with air heating and cooling systems maintain an internal temperature between 15-30°C in the main space and 19-24°C in the retail units, while outside the temperature varies between -35 to +35°C across the year.

This will be the second project designed by UK architect Norman Foster (of Foster and Partners, collaborating architects are Linea, Gultekin and UMO), who has recently built a giant glass pyramid in Astana. The construction of the tent-city, expected to take a year(probably a bit more), will be carried out by the Turkish company Sembol.


http://www.hotlinkfiles.com/files/236677_z4kng/KSH_01.jpg

http://www.hotlinkfiles.com/files/236679_i2isu/KSH_03.jpg

http://www.hotlinkfiles.com/files/236678_5wp8d/KSH_02.jpg

http://www.hotlinkfiles.com/files/236680_azsqv/KSH_04.jpg


Related Links

Official local forum discussion(RU/ENG)
http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=511231

Official Homepage
http://www.khanshatyr.com/

Khan Shatyry on Fosters+Partners homepage
http://www.fosterandpartners.com/Projects/1438/Default.aspx

Khan Shatyry on BBC.COM (EN)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6165267.stm


:D

"The architectural project was unveiled by the President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev on 9 December 2006"

^^ Yep ... knew it; very similar. Esplanada project was announced in 2004 ... but will only start construction next year :cheers:

... and inside the "glass tent" design
http://img129.imageshack.us/img129/2061/56451968dd8.jpg (http://imageshack.us)


inside it s different. hope this is only a preliminary design for the interior.
i like the green area from Khan Shatyry. central area from Bucharest needs this kind of green spaces.

:nuts: :nuts: :nuts:

http://img501.imageshack.us/img501/2517/54402944hy5.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

awesome project, romania deserves it, i hope it will come very soon!:D

It's nice project but a little artificial.

^^ 250m would ... artificially ... do me :nuts:

ishuttle.eu

Wonderful, no other word can explain that! :happy:

Nice project Bucharest!

And as nebunul means ZA madman … I’ve tried to :nuts: … count the floors :angel:

IMO Max. 60F+10F(aerials)

http://img143.imageshack.us/img143/7225/95578375lx4.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

^^ nice work man the towers look fantastic :) now from those last diagrams..I could figure where exacly the main towers will be :D ..they will be right near the bulevard :)

http://img211.imageshack.us/img211/8408/ecchn8.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

fantastic ..this is quite impresive for Bucharest for now..maybe in the future we might have much many :)

One of the best "renders" IMO :cheers:

http://img240.imageshack.us/img240/3999/77735133di3.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Everytime i see the project, i like more. It's impressive

P.S.- Nebunul, what's the reason of your nick, are you bad? (ne-bunul :lol: :lol: ) ;):)

^^ I am bun-ne ...

View from the roof of the tallest Esplanada tower :nuts: :cheers:

http://img131.imageshack.us/img131/3367/feln0.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Come onnnnnnnnnnnn ... I want to see this being built :nuts: :cheers:

http://img223.imageshack.us/img223/1858/e1cx4.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

http://img503.imageshack.us/img503/4935/53658586jh0.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

http://img503.imageshack.us/img503/486/e2ez1.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

^^ Real Viena 2007

Amazing project! :applause:

I am shocked. Bucharest looks like a really nice place. I want to visit this place as soon as possible

^^ Welcome ! :cheers:

http://img339.imageshack.us/img339/2336/bucharestcaleavictorieixr8.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

I am shocked. Bucharest looks like a really nice place. I want to visit this place as soon as possible

^^ ^^
http://static.flickr.com/63/166548684_5c23336609_o.jpg

Esplanada project close to signing, construction to start in 2009
http://businessromania.ro/index.php?x=read

A 10-hectare plot close to Unirii Square that has lain deserted for more than 17 years is an oddity in a city where the battle for land is raging. If it were in the hands of an individual, the land would have been sold by now, and a lucky developer would have reaped the fruits of a mixed project already. The land, however, belongs to the state, and this could explain the present picture.

By Corina Saceanu

This particular land could host TriGranit’s Esplanada, a huge city renewal project, mixing offices with residences, retail, cultural buildings and green areas. Its history starts three years ago, when Hungarian developer TriGranit was selected as investor in the public-private partnership, meant to bring beauty and structure to a deserted area in the downtown of the capital city, and, of course, profits to both the developer and the Bucharest City Hall.

This particular land could host TriGranit’s Esplanada, a huge city renewal project, mixing offices with residences, retail, cultural buildings and green areas. Its history starts three years ago, when Hungarian developer TriGranit was selected as investor in the public-private partnership, meant to bring beauty and structure to a deserted area in the downtown of the capital city, and, of course, profits to both the developer and the Bucharest City Hall.

Romania doesn’t have a great track record in kicking off large public-private partnerships. Changing governments and hectic legislation were reasons for delaying projects which in other countries took much less time to realize. The Radio House project is one such unfortunate example. Construction works started this year, after several years in which contracts with irregularities popped up along with interchanging investors.

The construction date for Esplanada depends on the signing of the contract between the Bucharest municipality and developer TriGranit, which has been delayed year after year. But this time negotiations between the two parties seem to be close to an end, and the developing company expects to start works in 2009.

TriGranit: Long negotiations are normal

What is delaying the project? After negotiations with the state, TriGranit signed the PPP memorandum in May last year, and this has opened the way for the final round of negotiations. Pending restitution claims on more than half of the plot also put a brake on the process. The Bucharest Municipality was expecting to finalize mid-last year the restitution claims and compensate anyone who had lost out. However, no good news in this respect came from the Bucharest city hall.

On the other hand, TriGranit representatives said it was normal for the negotiations between the two parties to take so long, as the value of the project makes it the biggest PPP so far: over EUR 1 billion.

“The negotiations process for Esplanada was naturally a long one, as it was the first project at such a value, over EUR 1 billion. There are no major impediments for the negotiations, things went the normal way,” Dan Ghibernea, country manager for TriGranit Development Romania, exclusively told Business Review.

After the signing of the memorandum last year, when all the TriGranit bosses came to Romania, the negotiations involved weekly meetings, analyzing all the details in the contract up to each comma, numerous studies, analyses and estimations, “so that the contract respects both the investor’s and the state’s interest,” says Ghibernea.

The long yard seems to have shortened for Esplanada, as the contract signing moment is just around the corner.:banana: “We are close to finalization, but, I must say, we prefer to sign the agreement later, but knowing the Esplanada development will have a solid and correct ground, which could make it a positive example for other partnerships of this type,” Ghibernea said.

The need for longer negotiations may be a direct consequence of the irregularities in the Radio House PPP contract, which had to be renegotiated and which will be built with other private investors who did not feature in the initial set.

As for Esplanada, TriGranit, the lucky winner of this PPP, which had to outrun 33 other competitors in the race in 2004, will need to use all its forces to build the more than 650,000 sqm the project will feature.

The developers seem very patient, but since they won the Esplanada contract, the company has already kicked off two other projects in Romania – two Polus Center malls in Cluj – Napoca and Constanta. The project in Cluj-Napoca is actually very close to opening.

“We have waited in some cases as long as seven years to identify opportunities, but I hope we won’t have to wait that long in Romania, because we prefer to work and make money. TriGranit has powerful shareholders, and this allows us to focus on projects which don’t necessarily have an immediate end in sight. Our main project now is Esplanada,” Lorant Varga, CEO of Trigranit International, said last year. Five years will have passed by 2009, the latest announced date for start of project.

Pedal to the metal for similar size private projects

While Esplanada is awaiting signature on legal papers, two other projects of similar investment sizes are already underway. Baneasa project, a EUR 1.2 billion project built in north Bucharest on some 224 hectares, started in 2005, four years after its founders came up with the idea. Baneasa is not a public-private partnership but it has a somewhat similar structure. The 224-hectare land on which the project is being built doesn’t belong to the investor, but to the University of Agricultural Studies, which gets a share for its contribution.

Another project close in investment size to EUR 1 billion is Sema Parc, a mixed development built by local River Invest. The project, started last year, is currently underway, but its situation is different, as this is an entirely private project. The land belongs to the developer, and so do the funds.

Esplanada may become crown jewelry for TriGranit

Esplanada is in fact one of the biggest, if not the biggest such project in TriGranit’s portfolio. The company has built similar projects in the neighboring countries, but none this size of built area or investment. The Palace of Arts in Budapest, Hungary, was also a PPP, the first PPP of its kind in Central Europe. Its development cost reached EUR 130 million and it was opened in 2005.

Emonika City Center in Ljubljana, Slovenia, is closer in concept to the future Esplanada. The project, supposed to kick off in 2007 and open in 2010, requires EUR 250 million in investment for a 120,000-sqm total built area, featuring retail and entertainment, residential, offices and a hotel.

^^
:lol: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esplanada_City_Center


The entire project is visioned like a small city with shopping, living, working and leisure functions integrated into one enormous complex developed on an area of 107,140 sq m.

The project includes 8 skyscrapers from 30 to 70 floors, a Guggenheim Museum, a shopping mall and many green areas.

The tallest of the skyscrapers will have a roof height of 210 m (250 with the spire). There will be also an unique building shaped in the form of the romanian sculptor Constantin Brâncuşi's Endless Column

The whole building complex including the mall will have a price tag of around US$ 4.2 billion and it will be paid by the developer hungaryan company TriGránit and the Rothschild family.

----

...and as I know that Bucharest is still unkown by some peoples, let`s discover Bucharest by reading this nice article :

Bucharest - New York of Eastern Europe?
http://www.propertysecrets.net/blogs/max_growth/post-7537250041944777793.html

I dare you to find a city like Bucharest, Romania!

It is dynamic and challenging – it is both beautiful yet tragic - its bullet holes are still young being a demonstration of protest, politics and death in 1989 vs Warsaw’s dreadful history of war and destruction in the early 1940s.

Bucharest appears not to have a city centre – because years of centrally controlled management have laid industrial landscapes (now vacant and awaiting development) next to boulevards and littered the city with areas of dense North Korean designed housing.

No wonder that the city sometimes feels more Asian than European.

But I believe that dense and intense Bucharest …. will drive its property prices high – and possibly exceptionally high.

After all, one could look east to Moscow’s sky high real estate rather than westwards to comparisons in Paris or Madrid.

Yet, despite the communist swaths of block housing and the slow flowering of French and Parisian inspired 19th Century architecture in the central district, I believe the heart of Bucharest is twinned with that of New York.

It has been said, not least by some of us at Property Secrets, that Bucharest has more than one centre.

And in some ways this is true – with the actual geographic centre at Plaza Unirii, whilst the business centre (currently the major cluster of A class office space) is to the north and even as far as the Otopeni – the international airport outside of Bucharest city limits and passed the other northern airport and new business district of Baneasa.

However, I think that when you step back from the current Bucharest you can see a normal (ie normal by western free market standards) city emerging from the old one created through the imposition of centralised control economics.

The key thing though is to realise that Bucharest is an incredible small city.

Yes, it is incredibly small.

Whilst containing an official population of 2.1 million and an estimated population of 2.7 million (ie not every one living in Bucharest has bothered to register themselves at the local town hall) it is an incredibly dense city.

That means the area covered by Bucharest – its foot print, if you like – is tiny. And this is what makes it like New York City.

The area covered by this population is just 226 km2. That is an area in which the entire Romanian capital – including a large number of green and undeveloped spaces around its edges (not including the empty ex-industrial space in its central areas) could easily fit inside London’s North and South Circular roads. Ie it’s inner ring road.

Again, by comparison, Greater London’s extends to (the 32 boroughs) 1,600 km2 with 7.2 million inhabitants. That is a space eight times larger with a population of less than three times more.

However, the area of the city of Bucharest would be less than that from London’s Nottinghill gate to Bow (east/ west) and from Muswell Hill to Brixton.

London experts will know better than I, but I bet these areas were built in the 19th Century. For instance, Wikipedia describes Brixton as mostly waste land until the beginning of the 19th Century. At this time, London had a population of 1 million (around 35% of Bucharest’s currently estimated population).

And... by comparison, London’s population expanded to 4.5 million by 1880 - just 80 years.

Hence, it is not unreasonable to expect Bucharest's population to at least double as the country becomes increasingly urbanised and less and less agrarian.

But, for the moment, the population of Bucharest lives in a tightly packed and dense area.

This density delivers a degree of intensity too which nearly any visitor will testify.

It is also why, I believe, that Time Out has already started publishing a Time Out listings guide to the cultural throb of Bucharest.

After all, the latest claims to cultural vibration in Eastern Europe has all been about Berlin – but, as many readers on the Property Secrets forums note, eastern Berlin is deserted this summer and I suspect that the real cultural and artistic breakthroughs will take place in Bucharest or at least cities like Bucharest.

Why will Bucharest be a cultural and creative location?

In simplistic terms Bucharest is a heart rending place. It juxtaposes deep and grinding poverty with wealth and power. Every day its central rail station delivers new fodder for the building sites from the fields of Romania.

It contains buildings of great beauty that stand in ruins and covered in years of grey soot and communist neglect just aching to throw off the chains of the past and burst into a new role.

I am not great cultural historian, but I believe that most great cultural movements took place in an environment such as Bucharest’s – that of great contrasts and challenges – wealth and poverty side by side – plus massive economic expansion and a huge injection of energy into every day life.

There is a reason why they say that a New York minute lasts only 32 seconds –and I don’t believe that Bucharest is really any different – it is because everyone here is in a hurry.

In a hurry to get work – in a hurry to make a fortune – in a hurry to do what ever they need to do.

It was initially a surprise to me that Time Out picked out Bucharest as a location on which it could – only 6 months into EU membership – base a new cultural listings magazine.

And don’t forget, I was looking at a Bucharest in early August just after a heat wave of 50 degrees Celsius in which any sane/ normal person would have left the city.

But still, despite the time of year and the heat, the traffic was intense and the sense of purpose and drive in the city was palpable.

It is easy to get scared off by such drive and ambition – but if you can peel back the enthusiasm and see the medium and long term prospects for the city you can see a great opportunity to enter a property market in its early growth phase.

It is true that properties may be more expensive than you might expect from a slightly shabby, dirty and polluted big city in Eastern Europe.

But this is to miss the essence of Bucharest. Instead, think of Bucharest’s problems – traffic, pollution etc – as a direct result of its success – ie it keeps drawing more and more people to fill its vacant jobs and can still only house them in dense old fashion accommodation blocks.

It wasn’t that long ago that New York tenement blocks also had a bad reputation for squalor and crowded living. In some ways, this is not too far a description of some of Bucharest’s current living conditions.

But in any city that is growing and expanding at a phenomenal rate, these problems always have existed and always will exist. New York and London went through these growth pains too.

So, Bucharest’s future will not be the calm progress of Prague or Warsaw.

Instead, Bucharest is an uncompromising city.

It is a city that demands attention and gets it – and I believe that whilst it will polish the French and Parisian inspired architecture, at heart it is another New York.

The city of New York has a population density of 10,000 people per square kilometre. Bucharest has a population density of 8,000 people per square kilometre – twice that of London and four times that of Dublin.

Bucharest is often an uncomfortable place to be. But it is a city that will make fortunes for many people - just as New York once did and still does.

And property investors who invest well and manage to pick the right projects will place themselves on a city that is currently taking off – and who knows what levels it might reach.

Certainly, Bucharest is the most dynamic and intense economic engine of Eastern Europe.

And that is why I believe the best comparison for Bucharest is not a city from Asia - with its extremes of wealth and Poverty – but of New York, because of its dynamism and energy.

You can’t help leaving Bucharest anything but buzzed up. I think it is a reasonable bet to expect the same for its property markets too.

Cheers
Neil

---------------------------


Murphy Jahn Plan Burcharest City Within A City
2007-11-14, Skyscrapernews

Architects Murphy Jahn has come up with this massive new scheme for Bucharest in Romania.

As almost a city within a city, it will consist of at least five towers over 100 metres in height, the tallest which could be 70 storeys in height. The complex named the Esplanada Project will also have a wall less glass "tent" which rests on a single mast, not unlike the Foster designed tent planned for Kazakhstan.

Although most of the towers are cylindrical or square in shape with glass facades, the tent and a zigzagged tower make the project interesting without being completely over the top.

The project will cover an area of 107,140 square metres and has an estimated cost of 2-3 billion euros. As a city within a city concept, the project will include residential space along with retail and commercial spaces. At the heart of the project a unique cultural centre will be formed including a national concert hall, Guggenheim museum and multifunctional cultural space.

Plazas and green spaces will be interspersed throughout the complex giving workers, residents and visitors calm oases to relax in as well as space to walk the dog or toss the odd Frisbee.

The project will also create thousands of jobs both in the construction side of things and upon completion, something vital for the growth of Romania which is clearly benefiting from becoming part of the EU. It is hoped that upon completion the project will come to be seen as a symbol for a new more progressive Romania that looks westwards.

Developers Trigranit hope to begin construction early 2008 with the first phase consisting of commercial and retail space opening 2010 which may be a tad ambitious. Overall completion should be in 2014, so it will still be a while before Roania hits the world architecture stage.


http://skyscrapernews.com/images/pics/1208MurphyJahnPlanBurcharestCityWithinACity_pic1.jpg

Glass tent details ...

http://img111.imageshack.us/img111/3228/eeaa6.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Congratulations! The dream becomes reality.

I barely wait for the towers to be rised over this swampy place...

http://img91.imageshack.us/img91/9816/esplno7.jpg (http://imageshack.us)


http://www.sergiubrega.com/wp-content/uploads/poze/2007/iun_14_2007/IMG_5955.jpg

:cheers:

TriGranit looks for residential opportunities in Romania
www.business-review.ro

TriGranit will invest up to EUR 3 billion in Romania in the next five to seven years. The developer plans to expand the Polus retail chain, now present in Cluj-Napoca and Constanta, to other cities, the next target being Brasov where the company already owns 24 hectares of land. Residential is another segment in which TriGranit is likely to invest in Romania and is now looking for such an opportunity, the company told BR
With its Esplanada project in the final negotiation stages, with Polus Center Cluj up and running, and Polus Constanta under construction, TriGranit Development Corporation is now looking at expanding its Polus Center chain around Romania. The developer is working on a new project in Brasov, having a similar scheme to the two Polus Centers, Arpad Torok, chief leasing officer and development director for Romania with TriGranit told Business Review.

The project in Brasov will be developed on a plot of approximately 24 hectares, close to the exit of the city towards Ghimbav. The future Polus in Brasov, now in its planning and approval stage, will require a similar investment as the existing Polus centers in Romania.
The developer's estimated investment in each of the two Polus centers has reached EUR 140 million. The value of investment for Polus Center Cluj was of EUR 300 million including tenants' investments, according to Torok. Both Polus Cluj and Constanta were bought by Austrian investment fund Immoeast in record transactions: EUR 210 million and EUR 185 million, respectively, according to data from Immoeast.
"Also, we have two- three other projects in other big Romanian cities, which are currently in planning phase," Torok told BR.
Overall, TriGranit's existing and planned developments for Romania will be worth between EUR 2 to 3 billion, says Torok. The amount will be invested in the next five to seven years.
TriGranit usually develops projects involving investments of minimum EUR 100 million. The ones in Romania target cities of approximately 200,000 inhabitants, according to the company. Arad and Craiova have been recently mentioned by company's officials as targets for two other Polus centers.
The construction works for Polus Center Constanta have started at the end of July and are expected to finalize in the first part of 2009. Up to now, more than 50 percent of the gross lettable area has been secured with tenants. "Around 60 to 70 percent of the brands which opened stores in our project in Cluj, have stated their intention to join us in Constanta as well," says Torok. "Also, just during our attendance at this year's MAPIC, we agreed terms with 12 large chains," he goes on.
TriGranit has added office buildings to some of the other Polus centers in other countries.
In Romania, TriGranit started with retail and will build offices and residential as part of Esplanada project, once it kicks off. But the company is also interested in standalone opportunities on the residential market. "TriGranit's current portfolio includes several successful residential projects in Croatia, Poland, Hungary and in the Seychelles. We would definitely consider a new project in Romania and we are now looking into finding the right opportunity," explains Arpad Torok.
Of the projects announced so far the biggest investment is required by Esplanada - a little more than EUR 1 billion. Each of the three mentioned Polus developments require around EUR 140 million, according to company data. This means TriGranit has up to around EUR 1.5 billion to spend on other projects in Romania besides the ones already disclosed.
Officials of TriGranit have recently announced plans to invest up to EUR 5 billion in Russia. In the last ten years, the developer has spent more than EUR 1.5 billion in Eastern Europe and its investment planned for the following years envisages another EUR 8 billion in investments. These numbers reflect the fact that Romania and Russia are for the moment TriGranit's focus in the region.
TriGranit operates in 11 countries in Central and Eastern Europe, and has a pipeline of over EUR 8 billion of mixed-use developments.

New renders (thanks to _sasha):

http://img135.imageshack.us/img135/5141/mainviewmicyv2.jpg?s=1

http://img246.imageshack.us/img246/8630/towerqe6.jpg?s=1http://img135.imageshack.us/img135/6368/picture2oj6.png?s=1

Amazing! Bravo! :applause:

Esplanada hits the final stage
25 April, 2008 / www.trigranit.com

April 24, 2008 TriGranit Development Corporation welcomes the decision of the Government of Romania giving the green light for the contract signing of the Esplanada project.

„The negotiation process was long and very complicated for all parties, but the result is remarkable. The contract offers advantages for everyone involved. We’ve made serious steps, and hope to start the construction in the second half of 2009” – commented the decision Dan Ghibernea, country manager of TriGranit Development Romania.

The very next step will be taken by the Ministry of Development, Housing and Public Works by transferring the contract to the Bucharest City Council.

Esplanada is a €1bn private investment on 10,7 ha plot around the Unirii boulevard in Bucharest. The project will incorporate cultural and shopping center, office and residential buildings and hotels on 800 000 sqm. 20% of the whole area dedicated to green zone, and 270 000 sqm is planned for parking area.

After 49 years the entire complex and its ownership right goes to the State of Romania.

TriGranit is a fully integrated real estate investment, development and management company. With operations in 11 countries in Central and Eastern Europe, a large portfolio of completed trophy assets, and a pipeline of over EUR 8,5 billion of major mixed-use developments, as well as a number of public private partnership (PPP) investments, TriGranit is well positioned to participate in the expanding real estate markets

Finally moving forward!:banana:

Ultima versiune a Turnului Brancusi arata mult mai bine decat primele :cheers:

Aici e o "viziune" a mea, despre turn (inspirat dupa Taipei101), chiar daca pozitionarea e aiurea si lipsesc celelalte cladiri :shifty:

http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j286/h5forem/brancusitower.jpg

Ar avea o inaltime de 218m (Intercontinental 77m)

Ultima versiune a Turnului Brancusi arata mult mai bine decat primele :cheers:

Aici e o "viziune" a mea, despre turn (inspirat dupa Taipei101), chiar daca pozitionarea e aiurea si lipsesc celelalte cladiri :shifty:

http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j286/h5forem/brancusitower.jpg

Ar avea o inaltime de 218m (Intercontinental 77m)

Hey, you made that render ? Nice work :cheers:
Should try doing that for more Bucharest's future buildings :cheers:

Seems this one has been stalled again :( Damn new mayor....

Seems this one has been stalled again :( Damn new mayor....

What a shame. I liked the "glass tent"!

se mai stie ceva de esplanada ??

^^
My first post. And it contains kinda strange information. The day before yesterday I was hitchhiking to Budapest, and Zsolt Buzogany (owner of Arcadom, and general manager there) picked me up, who is the executer for Esplanada, or was...or whatever...and I asked him about the project, and he told me for sure, that it will be built, when, he doesn't know, but Esplanada will be built. And a little more info. It concernes Cluj. Sigma will not be built...ever

Esplanada is not dead. It's included among the Gov's priorities for an upcoming PPP as the previous proposition. :banana:

Esplanada is not dead. It's included among the Gov's priorities for an upcoming PPP as the previous proposition. :banana:

:banana:

Those are some really great news :cheers:

Esplanada is not dead. It's included among the Gov's priorities for an upcoming PPP as the previous proposition. :banana:

woooow

source???

:cheers:

The government has announced today the main projects that will be built through PPP. The Ministry for Regional Development has been assigned with three projects: The Esplanada Complex, The Bucharest Danube Canal and the Eco Apartment Complex in Ghencea.
Esplanada will be built in Public-Private-Partnership and it will cost 800-900 mil euro.

http://b365.realitatea.net/news/esplanada-complexul-de-un-miliard-de-euro-se-face-in-parteneriat-public-privat/

Ps. Check the Bucharest Projects&Construction Thread :D

Here's more details about Esplanada:

Esplanada Complex will be constructed near Piata Unirii, at a price of nearly 1 bln. euros

The government announced Wednesday what projects will be completed through public-private partnerships. The Ministry of Regional Development was approved four such projects, of which three in Bucharest: the Esplanada Complex, the Danube – Bucharest Canal and the Eco district in Ghencea, according to b365.

Esplanada is a complex of office buildings, hotels and residential blocks that will be built on 10 hectares of land near the Unirea mall of Bucharest. Initially the project had an estimated price tag of one billion euros, but later Premier Boc announced it will only cost 800-900 million euros. Following a tender in 2004, authorities awarded the project to the Trigranit company and signed a public-private partnership (PPP) contract, which however ended without result in 2009.

The same ministry led by Elena Udrea was given go-ahead for the Eco district of Ghencea, in Bucharest: 10,000 dwellings and utility buildings will be raised on a surface of 100 hectares.

Another PPP refers to completing the Danube-Bucharest Canal. “This is a project with multiple implications – shipping, irrigations, tourism – that has been abandoned, but is still valuable,” said the prime minister, who added that the project will be achieved jointly by MDRT and the Ministry of Transport. Source (http://www.bucharestherald.ro/residential/35-real-estate/21732-esplanada-complex-will-be-constructed-near-piata-unirii-at-a-price-of-nearly-1-bln-euros)

good news!
Ich hoffe das Beste für Bukarest

^^
Dankeschön!

Guys, do not despare! Esplanada is going ahead and we should hear news of it soon! :cheers:

gostei do complexo

Am o mare, mare, rugaminte:
tineti-ne la curent cu ultimele noutati!

Copy of Astana biggest yurt
http://i.imgur.com/0ol49.jpg

And in the right side in the picture^^ tower look very close to WARSAW "Kulczyk" Tower, its even closer to some proposal in Paris, but l don't remember the name of it.
http://grafik.rp.pl/grafika/74212,93005,9.jpg
PROJECT FULL OF COPIES :ohno:

That cillinder tower also looks very similar to the Millenium tower of Vienna, by Boris Podrecca.

Oh you are right as well too.

And in the right side in the picture^^ tower look very close to WARSAW "Kulczyk" Tower, its even closer to some proposal in Paris, but l don't remember the name of it.

PROJECT FULL OF COPIES :ohno:

lol :lol:, that building is based on Constantin Brâncuşi's Endless Column, it has nothing to do with some random polish skyscraper . I think that Espanda Project is older then WARSAW "Kulczyk" Tower...

When does construction start.?

^^ 2012 :cheers:

There is a new agreement in process for the resumption of the project.


Commencement of construction: 2012
Project opening: 2015
Investment in million Euro: 1,000
Gross buildable area (m2): 880,000
Function: retail and entertainment, office, residential, cultural
Designer: Murphy & Jahn

http://www.trigranit.com/media/proj_galeria/nagy/1181807702_esplanada_bucharest_3.jpg
http://www.trigranit.com/index.php?p=project&id=24&page=1

Copy of Astana biggest yurt

And in the right side in the picture^^ tower look very close to WARSAW "Kulczyk" Tower, its even closer to some proposal in Paris, but l don't remember the name of it

Oh, stfu, the project is from 2006. It has been delayed a lot, but is now on track. The main hall probably won't look like a funnel anymore anyway.

And that zig-zag tower is based of the Endless Column, and while similar to the Polish tower, it's truncated (the corners are chopped off).