Mauricio Mesa Gomez, Country Manager of Cordia Romania and Spain, explained, in an interview for The Times/Investing in Property, what urban regeneration means and how the real estate developer Cordia, a member company of the Futureal group, applies this concept in its projects.
Simply put, urban regeneration is the revitalization of a degraded area inside a city. Degradation can be both physical – dilapidated buildings, with or without historical value; poor infrastructure – as well as social – crime, insecurity, economic difficulties, outbreaks of infection. In Romania, as in other European countries, there are such areas, often located in city centers, but not only there.
“Urban regeneration is a long process that can be achieved through large projects, in partnership with local authorities – as was the case of Corvin in Budapest, an urban regeneration project on an area of 22 hectares, carried out by the Futureal group, through Cordia , for more than a decade and which has transformed an area previously characterized by poor infrastructure, excessive crime and an extremely low standard of living into an attraction of the Hungarian capital, with new residential buildings, and modern offices and retail and which also includes a wide pedestrian promenade bordered by commercial spaces, coffee shops and restaurants ”, explains Mauricio Mesa Gomez, Country Manager of Cordia Romania and Spain.
Urban regeneration can also be achieved through separate projects, carried out by several developers, such as Coralilor area in northern Bucharest, a former industrial zone that is currently comprised mostly of empty land-plots and has no value, economic and social, notable exceptions beiong the headquarters of OMV Petrom and the German School. In this area, Cordia Romania plans to develop a residential project comprised of approximately 700 apartments, which is currently in the process of obtaining the documentation prior to the building permit. The project is distinguished by a large green area, the parking lots being built entirely underground, as well as the traffic generated by residents’ cars. Thus, the land-plot is intended exclusively for the footprints of buildings and for gardens.
Read HERE the whole interview given by Mauricio Mesa Gomez to The Times/Investing in Property.
