2023 was a successful year for WDP, who consistently increased its portfolio with new projects and acquisitions, despite the volatile macroeconomic and geopolitical context. The total portfolio held by WDP by the end of 2023 amounted to 1,579,000 sq.m. The level of requests remained stable, so that the vacancy rate of WDP spaces was kept below 1%.
In 2023 WDP finalized several important projects: in WDP Park Bucharest – Ștefăneștii de Jos there were two extensions, a 34,402 sq.m extension for e-pantofi and a 12,864 sq.m warehouse for KitchenShop and Lecom – and a 5,200 sq.m extension handed over for Ursus Breweries in Buzău.
Automotive still brings new investments
Moreover, the developer has a strong, ongoing partnership with Pirelli: in Slatina it delivered 25,000 sq.m in 2023 to Pirelli, to which this year it will add a 48,300 sq.m extension. The total surface of the Pirelli warehouse will be 137,400 sq.m, thus making it the largest building belonging to only one company in the WDP portfolio in Romania. Also this year it will deliver an 11,600 sq.m extension for TRICO in WDP Park Ploiești – Ariceștii Rahtivani.
”We have two projects, a factory for Erkurt Holding near Craiova, and a building for the Taparo factory in Târgu-Lăpuș, which have been finalized; they are working on production fit-out, and the production facilities will be operational at the beginning of 2024. The total surface of the two buildings is 21,120 square meters”, said Jeroen Biermans, Country Manager WDP Romania.
At the same time, WDP Romania is securing new developments: in July 2023 it expanded its local portfolio through a sale‑and-leaseback acquisition of an automotive production unit.
The building is located in the metropolitan area of Pitești, which is an established automotive production cluster, centered around the Dacia Renault plant. The unit has a gross leasable area of approximately 20,000 sq.m and will be leased back to the seller under a long-term, triple net, fully indexed contract. According to this, the tenant has the option of expanding the unit.
”This was the biggest deal we signed in 2023”, commented Jeroen Biermans. According to him, 2023 was a year of optimization for many client segments. ”Demand continued to grow on the back of a need to increase storage capacity. Furthermore, we saw that Romania increasingly becomes a distribution hub for the CEE/SEE region.”
WDP develops both industrial sites and logistics facilities.
„Our client profile is twofold: production companies for which we have developed a BTS (and often have expanded the facility) and companies that need logistics premises for which we have for example developed a distribution centre (or in many cases more than one either as a subsequent project or as an expansion of the existing facility).”
Rents are increasing due to many factors
As expected, the rents have increased in 2023, triggered by higher construction costs, higher costs of capital and also a slowdown in speculative supply. ”Indeed, the economic context was more uncertain than in 2022, but at the same time high inflation rates also pushed up rents in existing premises, nevertheless the price gap between new supply and existing supply has widened. Based on the current development costs we expect rental growth to continue. As within a CEE context, warehouse rents in Romania remain still cheap, there continues to be considerable space for growth”, declared the Country Manager of WDP Romania.
Focus on sustainability in real estate
„Sustainability is the path towards the future, we are committed to follow the ESG strategy of WDP at group-level”, communicated WDP officials.
WDP Romania continues to implement energy efficiency measures: the majority of WDP’s warehouses in Romania obtained the EDGE certification, a hallmark of sustainable construction, which implies an average reduction in energy and water consumption and the embodied energy of material used by 30%. The real estate developer is also implementing a new system for real-time monitoring of utility consumption.
Moreover, it implemented an important new project: in WDP Park Bucharest – Ștefăneștii de Jos it installed photovoltaic panels that have a 13 MWp production capacity, and the green energy production will cover the biggest part of the tenants’ consumption needs.
”By this investment we aim to decrease the carbon footprint during the entire lifecycle of the project with approximately 180,000 tons of CO2. We want to offer all interested customers the option of mounting photovoltaic panels on buildings (newly built or existing), as well as the possibility of installing charging stations for electric cars in the industrial parks in our portfolio.
Last, but not least, we implemented the first biodiversity project in our portfolio: in our WDP Park Bucharest – Ștefăneștii de Jos we planted more than 13,000 trees and bushes. The green area created through this biodiversity project will not only bring back nature in the Park, but will also contribute to the wellbeing of our tenants. In general, the project fulfills most of the requirements and is in alignment with the latest EU Directives, significantly contributing to an increased quality of life for the stakeholders in the area, as the vegetation development will help fight pollution, reduce water evaporation, and heat island effect in the coming years”, concluded Jeroen Biermans.
