Sunday, 25 May 2025
The Bucharest office market is undergoing a fundamental transformation, shifting from traditional lease agreements, to what is increasingly viewed as a “service agreement” and prioritizing occupier well-being, in what is seen as a redefinition of value in the sector.
Florian Nițu, Managing Partner at Popovici, Nițu, Stoica & Asociații and moderator of the “Office Market Challenges and Opportunities” panel held at CEDER 2025, brought these themes up for discussion by noting a “paradigm change from what we used to call ‘keeping the tenant happy’, […] to ensuring an office building occupier well-being.”
Maria Jianu, Leasing Director at Speedwell, agreed that, while formally the transition may still be underway, “the building in itself is supposed to be more than just a footprint. It’s more about the pulse you have to give to the building, to the community you’re building”.
She also noted that this evolution has been significantly accelerated by the pandemic and the rising expectations of employees returning to the office. Andreea Cotiga, Head of Leasing Office at CPI Property Group Romania, later acknowledged that well-being has become “some sort of a strategic differentiator for attracting employees back to the office”, pushing landlords to evolve from being “just a space provider to becoming an experienced operator or a service partner”.
In practice, this involves enhancing buildings with services and amenities. Maria Jianu highlighted Speedwell’s commitment to mixed-use developments, stating, “we realized there is a huge difference that comes from having both office, retail and residential on the same platform. And all the facilities that are on the ground floor can be optimized and can be used in order to serve the everyday needs of our tenants”.
Adinel Tudor, CEO of EVO Properties, described transforming their buildings into “multifunctional hubs” where they “care a bit more about the tenants’ well-being”. He gave concrete examples: “We will open very soon the first gym which is integrated in an office building and is offered as a facility, free of charge, for all the tenants. […] We are changing the way the lobby of the buildings looks. We are trying to turn that into an informal meeting space”.
Andreea Cotiga declared that CPI Property Group has also invested in retrofitting projects to increase comfort and enrich the employee experience, listing “modernization works, changing finishing materials, sometimes even fully replacing heavy equipment of the building and installation systems and introducing digitalization tools and adopting all kind of sustainability measures.”
