The Regional Development and Public Works Ministry has shortlisted six architectural studios for the design of a Government centre, meant to rise on the area near the sixth km of the Tsarigradsko Chaussee Boulevard in Sofia, Dnevnik daily reported.Out of 19 applicants, the ministry shortlisted FosterPartners, a Londonbased firm led by worldrenown architect Norman Foster, Zaha Hadid Architects, French studio Dominique Perrault Architecture, Obedinenie G3, the studio of Bulgarian architect Georgi Stoilov, Italian studio Massimiliano Fuksas Architetto and consortium ADAIS proekt with Stoilov presiding over 18 companies involved in design, construction and planning.
Bulgarian architecture and engineering consultancy firm Balkan Trade House will spend 10 million euro to build a multitask complex in the southern town of Pazardjik, according to Filip Tsanov, who advises the project.The Fountains complex will be funded by a tailormade mortgage product by First Investment Bank. It will sprawl on 3.4ha and comprise 22 fourstorey blocks of flats, a swimming pool, sports facilities, childrens playgrounds, a kindergarten, a restaurant and an administrative centre.
Belgian company Ilpa Development will invest 25 million euro in the construction of a combined office and retail building on Tsarigradsko Chaussee in close proximity to the Metro and Technomarket superstores. Arco Real Estate, the company presenting the project on the market, said that the investor was seeking buyers for parts or the entire building. According to website investor.bg, Ilpa Development initially had plans to sell the building off plan. The construction already began and it is expected that the project would be completed by 2010.
The prices of Bulgarian residential properties have increased on average by three per cent to 1418 leva a sq m in the third quarter of 2008, compared to the previous quarter, data from the National Statistical Institute has showed. Flats sell for more than 1000 leva a square metre in half of the countrys 28 administrative centres.
The Defence Ministry has gone ahead with the documentation regarding the building of a military town in the Vladislav Varnenchik district in Varna. The town is supposed to be able to accommodate over 80 per cent of the military personnel in Varna and all other military installations in the surrounding region, weekly Stroitelstvo Gradut reported.
Dimitrovgrad is set to get a brand new bus terminal by the end of 2009, even though the final documentation for the project is yet to be signed. The contract has been postponed by three months due to technical ambiguity surrounding the vertical planning of the structure, weekly Stroitelstvo Gradut reported. With construction reaching advancing stages, it was revealed that this particular part of the project needed a rethink, a redesign and subsequent reimplementation.
The construction has started of the largest residential estate, with regular flats, luxury flats, shops, and boutiques in the central part of the northern Bulgarian town of Vidin on the Danube River. Located on Yavorov Street in the town, the complex is close to the centre of the old town, about 200m from the river and 400m for the city centre itself, weekly Stroitelstvo Gradut reported.
The Bulgarian real estate market has enjoyed years of gradual growth, with prices constantly being on the upturn providing a healthy climate for the sector. These were the days of predictability and affluence. Not anymore, being on the outskirts of the hurricane of financial trubulence slowly approaching the country from the West, prices have taken on a sharp decline, as offers on the leading property websites in the country show.