Bankers want modern offices and parking spots

New headquarters, as luxurious as they get and possibly owned by the company operating inside. And it is even better if they are in a downtown location and have large parking lots. The investments in banking headquarters have become very trendy over the last few years. Following the nearly $50 million investment the shareholders of the Banca Romana pentru Dezvoltare (Romanian Development Bank – BRD) – Groupe Societe Generale endorsed two years ago in view of building the new bank headquarters in Piata Victoriei, time has now come for the Greeks at Alpha Bank to start looking for a new home. Greece’s Alpha Bank Group has actually started looking for a new location already, as it wants all its branches on the Romanian market to operate in one place. The group deals in leasing, insurance and brokerage, besides banking. Their requirements are simple: 10,000-12,000 sqm space (no matter if it already exists or has to be built), which should be located in downtown or NW Bucharest and be handed over no later than November 2004. “Relocation to new headquarters is part of the strategy our shareholders approved for the Romanian market. It is too early to talk about the exact investment, yet it will certainly be worth several million dollars. At any rate, we’re expecting offers because we probed the market and found nothing we like,” Radu Gratian Ghetea, Alpha Bank Romania vice-president told Ziarul Financiar. ZF