Monday, 23 February 2026
Property management in Romania is moving beyond traditional building oversight toward a broader role in shaping mixed-use destinations and long-term asset value. For operators such as Nhood Romania, the focus increasingly includes urban regeneration, community integration and performance optimization across multiple asset classes. In this context, Mihaela Petruescu, Country Director for Property Services at Nhood Romania, discusses how the company is adapting its operating model, deploying technology and navigating current market pressures.
Under Petruescu’s leadership, Nhood positions itself as an integrated real estate services provider working across retail, office, residential and mixed-use projects. She emphasises that the company’s work now extends well beyond conventional property oversight, with urban regeneration embedded into how assets are designed, operated and enhanced for clients. According to her, the objective is long-term value creation through the transformation of spaces into sustainable, community-oriented destinations.
A key example is the Coresi District in Brașov, which Nhood manages exclusively for its client. Developed on a former industrial platform, the project has evolved into a multifunctional district combining retail, offices, residential, hotel components and green areas while preserving the site’s historical identity. Petruescu notes that although the retail component is widely recognized, the office element has also become a significant success indicator. Coresi Business Campus currently provides around 75,000 sqm of modern office space and hosts more than 30 national and international companies employing over 6,000 people. The campus also includes approximately 3,000 sqm of coworking and flexible workspace designed for agile teams. Looking ahead, the U1 office building, scheduled for completion in Q3-Q4 of 2026, will add roughly 11,000 sqm of leasable space, with the first 2,000 sqm already reserved.
To monitor performance across its portfolio, Nhood relies on a broad set of indicators covering commercial activity, operational efficiency and user experience. Petruescu explains that visitors’ number, tenant sales, effort rates and occupancy levels remain central measures of asset vitality, while utility consumption has become increasingly important in the context of cost control and sustainability. Through an energy optimization programme that included building management systems and smart metering, the company reports a 31 percent reduction in energy consumption across the assets it manages over the past three years. These metrics, she says, are intended to provide a holistic understanding of performance from commercial, social and environmental perspectives.
Petruescu’s responsibilities span both Romania and Poland, requiring alignment with Nhood’s global strategy while adapting to local market realities. She describes the role as balancing a unified group framework with country-specific execution. While service lines such as property management, rental management, leasing, specialty leasing and operational marketing follow common standards, the Romanian market has developed a distinct profile, particularly in large-scale mixed-use regeneration. Projects such as Coresi have positioned Romania as an internal reference point for integrated redevelopment, with lessons increasingly transferable to other markets depending on their maturity.
Technology has also become a growing focus. Over the past year, Nhood Romania has expanded the use of digital tools within property and asset management, including the deployment of digital twin solutions in commercial centres. Petruescu says these platforms support building diagnostics, predictive maintenance and performance monitoring, helping improve operational efficiency and tenant comfort while supporting longer-term regeneration objectives.
Community activation remains another core pillar of the company’s approach. Rather than treating events and experiential retail as purely promotional tools, Nhood evaluates their impact through a combination of financial and behavioral indicators. Petruescu points to increases in footfall, dwell time and tenant sales following major activations, noting that the company’s managed assets recorded more than 71 million visitors in 2025, with double-digit growth at some locations. Alongside commercial metrics, the company also tracks tenant satisfaction, community participation and broader social impact indicators, reflecting what she describes as a shift toward experience-driven retail environments.
Against the backdrop of persistent inflation and tighter fiscal conditions across Central and Eastern Europe, cost allocation between landlords and tenants has become more sensitive, particularly in retail portfolios. Petruescu notes that the region’s lease structures have generally provided a relatively transparent framework for risk sharing. Most retail leases in Romania apply annual CPI or HICP indexation to base rents, helping preserve income levels, while operating costs and utilities are typically passed through to tenants on an open-book basis. Property managers, she adds, play an important role in mitigating volatility through procurement strategies, competitive tendering and energy-efficiency measures.
Looking ahead, Petruescu suggests that the role of property services providers will continue to expand as assets become more complex and user expectations evolve. The companies that succeed, she argues, will be those able to combine operational discipline with community insight and technological capability. For Nhood Romania, the direction is clear: property management is no longer only about maintaining buildings, but about shaping resilient urban places that can adapt to changing economic and social conditions.
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