Latest Property and Economy news from Bulgaria. News for Visitors and Investors

29.10.2007 Hotels to be turned into business centres in Sofia

Some of Sofia’s well-known hotels were to be soon convert into commercial and office buildings, investors told, as quoted by Dnevnik daily on October 29.
Grandhotel Bulgaria, in the centre of Sofia, would change its function, announced Emil Vassilev, representative of BT Development Services, one of the companies that succeed former state-owned Balkantourist. Meanwhile, another hotel in downtown Sofia, Serdica, would also be turned into a multi-functional building. Other old-time hotel buildings in the city were to come after the example soon, after failing to withstand the competition from newly built luxury hotels.
The four-star Grandhotel Bulgaria was one of the oldest hotels in the centre of Sofia. In the past few months it had not been operating at full capacity and a part of it was gone through repair. Due to increasing competition from new hotels, the owners had settled to change the building’s purpose, said Dessislava Kinova, marketing manager of BT Development Services, as quoted by Dnevnik.
The investment fund Equest, which owned the Serdica hotel, had a such reason for a rearrangement. After carefully researching the market, Equest decided to close the hotel and turn its construction into a business centre with offices and retail stores.
The reconstruction of Grandhotel Bulgaria was to be completed by 2010. The planned investment was 80 million leva, for which the company was gave a First Class Investment Certificate on October 26, Dnevnik announced. The certificate entitles the project to infrastructure funding from local and state government.

27.10.2007 Spanish FCC to construct the infrastructure the second bridge on the Danube

FCC Construccion of Spain would build the infrastructure adjatens the Vidin-Kalafat bridge under an agreement signed between representatives from the transport ministry and the developer, Investor.bg announced on October 26.
Under the terms of the 62.6 million euro deal, FCC Construccion will construct a 15 km railway line, the electrical and lighting system, an international cargo railway station, the reorganization of a railway station, four two-level transport links and eight bridges.
The Spanish developer is anticipated to finalise works through 2010.
Also on October 26, the Transport Ministry signed a deal with a tie-up led by High-Point Rendel of the UK for oversight of building works on the adjoining infrastructure.
The value of the contract is 2.7 million euros and the contractual term is 37 months. The contract foresees on-site oversight to cover full compliance with the construction specifications, services related to checking and testing, certification of interim and final paying, confirmation of interim tests, among others.
Several of the subcontractors on both consents would be Bulgarian companies, Transport Ministry officials announced Investor.bg.
Bridge building works both in Bulgaria and Romania are due to start in early spring next year and to be completed by the end of 2010. Both countries tipped FCC as contractor.

26.10.2007 175 million leva invested in spa hotels over the last few years

Between 150 and 175 million leva have been poured into spa and wellness developments in Bulgaria over the last three years, authority reported at a news conference held in Plovdiv. The resources have been invested into 70 four- and five-star hotels situated primarily in regions with mineral springs or seaside locations.
Such location are the most viable alternative for completing hotel occupancy all year round, Stanimir Stankov, chairman of National Association on Spa and Wellness Tourism argued. He cited the fact that such developments enjoy an yearly flow of 128 000 tourists, whose average stay is about three days. Although analysts at the conference did not announce any statistics on average spending of these tourists, all practicipators agreed that the visitors are affluent individuals enjoying high social status and inclined to invest lavish amounts into their health and fitness. Eighty-five per cent of the tourists in this sector are Bulgarians, and the other fifteen per cent are Russian-speaking tourists.

22.10.2007 New golf complex project in Bulgaria starts

Investors are expectationing to attract some of the 5 million golf players registered in Europe. Europeans spend about 2 billion euro on golf tourism every year.Black Sea Golf & Country club will be constructed near the town of Kableshkovo, Pomorie Municipality. It will cover and area of 2 000 000 sq m. Investor in the project is Kabland Ltd - a joint venture between Pomorie Municipality and NGB Consulting. Investment in the golf complex is awaited to reach 200 million euro.
Black Sea Golf&Country Club will embrace a high-class golf course, golf academy, luxury hotel, sport and enetrtainment facilities. The golf complex construction will create 800 new permanent jobs.
Investors are hoping to draw some of the 5 million golf players registered in Europe. Europeans spend about 2 billion euro on golf tourism every year.
Some of the depositor in the project are David Newmman, Thomas Gallaghar and Nicholas Gallagher. By the present moment, the three of them manage investments in Europe at the total price of over 1 billion euro.

19.10.2007 Off-plan retail unitys offered at more than 1110 euro/sq m in Plovdiv

Average offer prices of retail developments under construction in Plovdiv soared above 1110 euro/sq m, given that they have increased by as much as 48 per cent since April alone, www.imot.bg statistics show.
The inexpensivest shop in the city, with an area of 37 sq m situated in Vustanicheski borough, sells at 865 euro a sq m. The costliest retail unit, situated in the centre, commands a bid price of 1514 euro/sq m, Monitor daily announced.
Among the regional main cities (eleminating those at the seaside), Plovdiv is the one with the greatest number of shops under erection offered for sale. Veliko Turnovo has only nine shops which are offered off-plan. The most expensive one on Bulgaria asks 500 euro/sq m, and the cheapest unit situated in the centre) is offered at 850 euro/sq m. The average bid prices of retail units in Ruse come up to 1000 euro/sq m, but they have been practically stagnant since April this year. There are only six shops on selling; the unexpensivest one offers at 817 euro/sq m and the most expensive one sells at 1560 euro.
The down below are more statistics on off-plan sale offers for shops in the main Bulgarian cities.

18.10.2007 Forty million euro to be invested in a residential composite near Plovdiv

The company's second project phase embraces erection of a five-star hotel on the premises of the 9th kilometre motel. A residential compound and a five-star hotel amounting to 40 million euro will be erected at the Plovdiv highway exit.
The developer's first phase of the project, which is at a more advanced stage, implicate construction of public and residential buildings on a 72-hectare plot. The draught name of this phase is 4th kilometre - named after the highway exit toward Pazardjik, where the position is located.
The public constructions will have a gross actual area of 36 000 sq m and will house bank and insurance firm offices, a post office, and a sports halls. The residential unitys will have a gross actual area of 57 000 sq m. The project has a detailed architectural plan, main parameters have been pinpointed, and building will start at the beginning of 2008.
The company's second project phase embraces erection of a five-star hotel on the premises of the 9th kilometre motel. The construction will not start before 2009-2010.

17.10.2007 Winslow Developments presents its Bansko project at a Moscow property show

For the first time, exhibition visitors displayed a peculiar interest in Bansko. Winslow Developments presented its Bansko Mountain Residencies at this autumn’s DomExpo, an international property show held in Moscow from October 11 to 14. Gostini Dvor hall, located in the centre of the Russian capital, hosted the show’s participants, which embraces 27 Bulgarian companies offering differing destinations throughout the country.
Winslow Developments show jointly with New-Address and shared a stand that they arranged like a picture gallery. The stand received an adjudge for best design and publicity of Bulgaria.
For the first time, exhibition visitors displayed a particular interest in Bansko. They were not only drawed by the ski tourism opportunities of the resort, but also by the town's cultural attractions and nightlife. Bansko was introduced as both a winter and a summer holiday destination.

16.10.2007 Building season in Bulgaria's Sunny Beach begins

New construction season in the seaside resort of Sunny Beach began on October 15 2007.
Only two or three hotels will be constructed in the eastern part of the resort, while in the western part, nearly 20 new buildings will be standing.
Elena Ivanova, representative of the union of owners, told that the next municipal council of Nessebar would have to enforce the order from the current mayor for building to be halted on May 1 2008.
The union of the owners announced that if construction would not stop on May 1, the tourist season would be put off.
Ivanova told that in 2007, the first charter flights arrived a month after the official opening of the season, making the summer season shorter for tour-operators and hotel owners.
If the building season would continue to start before October 15 and end after May 1, the summer season would continue to become shorter, which would lead to loses in the tourism sector, she announced.
An increasing number of tourists mourned of the noise and dirt in the resort, caused by the construction sites.

15.10.2007 Sofia citizens – on bike

Dikov pledged yet another pledge– Sofia will enjoy a longer metro line than originally planned.Sofia's centre has gone into a panic over the recent forbid on the construction of new residential units that didn’t have adequate parking for their future inhabitants, Petar Dikov, Sofia's chief architect announced.
Some companies tried to bypass the regulation by lifting edifices with underground two- or three-level parking lots that would adjoin old buildings in the centre. But this try to observe the legal requirement to secure one or two parking places per flat resulted in cracked fronts and weakened the foundations of neighbouring houses.
The municipality will start hiring companies to repair the facades of the old buildings in return for receiving advertising space on the walls. There are already about 20 buildings that have been mended as part of this arrangement, Dikov announced.
The municipality will start developing some of the high-rise building projects on its own and will later give them to construction companies. It is one of the ways to act against the speculation with plots' prices by buying a terrain, declaring one's intention to construct a skyscraper there, thus increasing the cost of the land, and selling the plot afterwards at a higher price.

13.10.2007 The number of Swedish tourists visiting Bulgaria is growth

The country welcomed 10 000 more Swedish tourists this year, and governors hoped that more and more Swedes would see Bulgaria as a good place for investments Bulgaria has the most attractive legislation for drawing foreign investors, the country's President Georgi Parvanov told on the first day of his official visit to Sweden.
The country welcomed 10 000 more Swedish tourists this year, and governors looked forward that more and more Swedes would see Bulgaria as a good place for investments, Bulgaria's head of state added during his assembly with Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeld.
There is a active political dialogue between the governments of the two countries, which, in Parvanov's words, maps out the European perspective in bilateral attitude.

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