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REAL ESTATE review INSIDE VIEW
RETURNED, RE-THOUGHT AND RE-DESIGNED After a hiatus of several years, during which it pursued projects in Western Europe, the Belgium-based international developer Codic has returned to Budapest with three projects. “Codic had been active in Hungary since 2007, and from 2008-2010 completed the Krisztina Palace in Buda, which we sold to German investors and is now owned by the Erste RE Fund,” Christophe Boving, the head of operations in Hungary recalls.
in 2014-15 the company “started again to plan and, importantly, redesign projects” Boving explains.
That year, 2010, is significant; Hungary was in the teeth of the financial crisis. Although Codic had a number of excellent development plots in Budapest, it was clear the market appetite, not to mention bank financing, was not there. So Codic’s group concentrated instead on projects in Belgium, France and Luxembourg, where Boving says it “delivered several projects in this period”. (For more information on this, see www.codic.eu.)
“The users of buildings have different needs and expectations today, which is crucial to anticipate in our activity as a developer. We give much importance to what corporate tenants want, how they like to use and organize their work space. There is also a more urban and human aspect to it. Mixed-use has really become a trend that Codic has integrated in many projects since 2010; for example in downtown Luxembourg, we currently deliver the 60,000 sqm Royal-Hamilius project with retail, residential, office and public parking functions in one development, with one designer architect, Foster and Partners.”
Having kept a careful eye on the property market recovery in Budapest,
Having completely re-thought what it wanted to do in its Budapest
Green Court.
plots, Codic’s work began with a fundamental revamping of its project on the one-hectare plot on Dózsa György út. This was the start of the Green Court project. WELL-RESPECTED Together with partners Pesti Házak, a well-respected Hungarian residential developer, and Austria’s Venta Group, it has come up with a project involving two residential blocks and two contiguous office blocks, separated but sharing a common green courtyard. Green Court office is located on Dózsa György út 144-148, which runs perpendicular to the much coveted Váci Corridor. “We think that within the Váci Corridor submarket, Dózsa György út will come to see a concentration of new developments, and we took the first initiative with Green Court. With two contingent offices facing Dózsa
Green Court Office.
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