ZF 15 minutes with an entrepreneur, a Ziarul Financiar and Alpha Bank project. Andrew…

♦ Among the projects of DRS Architects is the Arena Mall in Bacău, a mixed project, which provides for the expansion of the current shopping center in the city, but which will also have a residential component and a hotel under the Mercure brand.

The real estate market evolves differently depending on the area of ​​the country and the market segment, but there is, on a general level, a prudence when it comes to new investments. Andrei Lefter, co-founder of architecture office DRS Architects, says that the residential segment is slowing down, while retail is doing well.

“There is prudence in the economy, things are thought out in detail, much more analysis is done than before. In the residential area, in certain cities, we see a slowdown and a much more careful analysis of opportunities. In the retail area, however, there is an acceleration. More and more retailers are starting to invest. Commercial centers are being built, modernized or expanded”, says Andrei Lefter, present in the ZF 15 minutes show with an entrepreneur, a Ziarul Financiar and Alpha Bank project.

He adds that there are players from the international retail market who are looking with interest at Romania, and the need for modern commercial spaces is even greater.

DRS Architects is the architecture office that participated in the Mega Mall construction project, one of the largest shopping centers in Bucharest. Today, the office works on about 20 projects, among which is the Arena Mall in Bacău, a mixed project, which provides for the expansion of the current commercial center in the city, but which will also bring a residential component and a hotel under the Mercure brand.

“It will be a doubling of the area of ​​the current mall, which will have an interesting terrace, plus facilities that the shopping center needed, being there a very important point, an urban pole that deserves its position”, he adds.

Incidentally, DRS Architects is a company also originating from Bacău. After graduating from college, Andrei Lefter did his internship at his father’s architecture office, which was located in this city. Later, he decided to open an office of the company in Bucharest as well.

“Having undergone a series of transformations within the team and having the desire to take the business forward and have our own partners, we established DRS Architects. At the beginning, I was an adjacent company (to the office in Bacău – editor’s note), specialized in making virtual reality presentations. That’s how we started in 2014, and later we joined the design team and turned into DRS Architects, a general design firm through which we make turnkey solutions”, explains the entrepreneur.

The company offers complete services in the field of construction, from due diligence and land analysis to the completion of the turnkey project. The duration of a project varies a lot depending on the complexity and size, but the most difficult part is that of obtaining the necessary approvals and authorizations to start the works. In many of the country’s cities, especially in Bucharest, the authorization process is made difficult because of urban plans.

Another big project that the architecture office is working on is a private campus, located in the Precizie area of ​​Bucharest, which will have about 1,400 rooms. Romania is starting to develop its segment of school and university campuses, both through public and private investments, says Andrei Lefter.

“And Romania is starting to develop its campuses, following the model of Western countries. They are both private and public investments”, adds Andrei Lefter.

Many of the projects that the architecture office works on are from the residential area, while the office area has reduced its number of new developments.

The company expects that this year the number of projects will increase and thus the office will exceed a turnover of 1 million euros.