3 minute read
“Cosmopolis represents a benchmark for the local real estate industry”
from BR/04/2022
Ozan Tuncer, the new CEO of Cosmopolis, the largest private residential district in Bucharest, spoke to Business Review for the first time and provided insight into the company’s new expansion plans and the uniqueness of the city with turquoise roofs.
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By Aurel Constantin
You have been in Romania for over 15 years now. How would you describe the development of the local market?
Ozan Tuncer: The Romanian real estate market has evolved tremendously over the past 15 years. Today, customers are seeking value for money, doing their own research, asking for testimonials from friends, and they prefer large residential projects with a clear track record—and Cosmopolis ticks all the right boxes. It’s a city in itself in the north of the capital, featuring countless facilities, and while it’s extremely close to the vibrant Pipera and Aurel Vlaicu areas, it’s built in a way that allows people to start a family, as they are protected from all the hustle and bustle in Bucharest. Customers are no longer satisfied with virtual presentations of residential projects that are due to be completed someday, somehow. Those times are over. At the same time, the desire to become a homeowner, to turn a house into a home, has not disappeared. The pandemic has highlighted the value of living in a community like Cosmopolis. Today, the real estate market in Romania is mature, and we are entering the stage where there is an increasingly strong segment with homes being bought as investments to be rented out, resold or shared through Airbnb.
What were the main challenges of turning Cosmopolis into the biggest private neighbourhood in Bucharest?
I think you really get the feel of a project when you are a customer. Right now, all of the company’s top management lives in Cosmopolis. We are among the 14,000 people who call Cosmopolis home. Last year, we felt the need to expand the road infrastructure of the neighbourhood, so we opened an additional access road to and from Tunari. The community is growing, and so are the children who have been born here, so we have become the only private neighbourhood with a medical clinic on site. Every day brings something new, but this is what allows us to be better and create a better product for our customers and neighbours. We have been on the market for 15 years, and we plan to expand the project for at least 15 more.
ABOUT
Ozan Tuncer
became the CEO of cosmopolis in March 2022. Previously, since 2012, he had been the Chief Financial Officer of Cosmopolis. Earlier, he served as CFO at Synergy Construct, a top general contractor in Romania, from 2009 until 2012. He was also part of the top management of Meteksan Turkey and Meteksan Romania.
What are your investment plans for Cosmopolis?
The positive experience of the last two years, when plenty of voices were predicting a drop in sales and changes in customer behaviour that would affect the real estate market, has made us really optimistic. We did our homework. 2020, the year of covid, was an extremely good year, 2021 was even better, and in 2022 we’re planning a record investment of 30 million euros. This confidence comes from the quality of Cosmopolis and the fact that we are a benchmark for the real estate industry. Anyone who’s looking for a home in the north visits Cosmopolis. We are now picking up the pace because we have 14,000 residents and there is demand for a commercial area as well. We will expand the strip mall into a real retail park, with more than 15,000 square metres for rent. We are also going to have a Lidl store soon, and we’re going to further expand the road infrastructure.
