News

26/04/2017

Futureal sells 25,000 m2 Corvin Skypark in Budapest to OTP Prime Property Investment Fund

Budapest, 26 April 2017 – Futureal Group sold its Skypark office building to the OTP Prime Property Investment Fund. The recently closed transaction increased the value of the fund’s property portfolio to over HUF 40 billion. The complex, with 25,000 square meters of GLA, is located at the Corvin Promenade mixed use project in the center of Budapest and was designed to meet the needs of technology and R&D companies.

The construction of Skypark was finished by the end of 2016. Its 25,171 square meters of GLA is complemented by 226 square meters of storage space and a 460-car parking garage. The building is the first element of the eastern closing block of Corvin Promenade, its development started in 2015. Based on innovative solutions, Skypark was designed by the internationally recognised studio Zoboki-Demeter and Associates Architects, winners of the FIABCI audience award. The ground floor houses restaurants, cafés and a kindergarten, the building also includes a 2-storey lobby and a conference center on the first floor. The office complex is entirely occupied by one tenant. The acquisition of Skypark was one of the largest office market transactions over the last 12 months in Budapest.

OTP Real Estate Investment Fund Management Ltd., a leading player in the Hungarian property investment market has launched in January this year the OTP PRIME Property Investment Fund, which aims to invest in category „A” and „A+” real estate properties. The first acquisition of the new fund was the recent purchase of the Váci Greens “B” office building which is located on the Váci corridor. The new fund is primarily recommended for institutional investors and private-bank customers, so they can also profit from the positive trends in the property market.

The “A+” category Skypark achieved BREEAM Very Good certification. Its sustainability features include automated shading technology, which can control the sunshine exposure on demand, electric car charger, a green roof, bicycle parking racks, dressing rooms, showers and energy-efficient mechanical systems. Facilitating efficient, creative work had high priority, when planning the interior design. An urban space was designed in front of the entrance to the office building with a statue, fountain and seating surfaces, where 10-meter high plane trees have been planted. Around Skypark nearly 100 shops, restaurants, cafés, a fitness-wellness center, laundry, post office, bank branches and a cinema can be found.

“Skypark, as an iconic building of the Corvin Promenade further increases the attractiveness of Corvin Quarter for existing and potential tenants. When planning our office buildings our main focus is to create engaging and inspiring full-service environment in order to make attracting and retaining the best employees easier for our tenants. The innovative design and modern, environment-friendly solutions of the office building guarantee that the complex will be an excellent long term investment,” said Gábor Futó, founder of Futureal Group.

“Both the real-estate and the office market have been on the rise in the last year. We are of the view that this is the beginning of a strong real-estate market cycle. This is why we decided that the timing was right to create a new property investment fund, that focuses on investing into premium office developments such as Skypark,” said Dr. Zsolt Barna, president and CEO of OTP Real Estate Investment Fund Management Ltd.

Corvin Promenade is an internationally recognised and awarded development project that won the International Property Award Best Mixed Use Development Europe award as well as the property development award of the Hungarian Chapter of FIABCI. In 2014, this development was the first Hungarian one to receive the Urban Land Institute Global Awards for Excellence, which is considered to be the Oscars of city and real estate development industry.

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About Futureal Group
Futureal is one of the leading real estate developers and investors in Central and Eastern Europe and is among the top 20 largest real estate developers in Europe. Over the last 12 years the Futureal Group has developed over 800,000 square meters of real estate projects with a total value of EUR 1.15 billion and is currently developing 39 new projects over 900,000 m2 with EUR 1.5 billion asset value.

About Corvin Promenade
One of the Futureal Group’s most outstanding projects is Corvin Promenade, the largest inner-city urban regeneration project in the CEE region. In 2010, the project received the European Commercial Property Award for the Best Mixed Use Development of Europe and in 2014, the company received the Urban Land Institute’s (ULI) Global Award for Excellence, considered to be the Oscars of city and real estate development.