November 5 (SeeNews) - Romanian wholesaler and retailer of food and non-food products Metro leased a 58,000 sq m industrial facility in Bucharest, property and investment management services provider Jones Lang Lasalle Romania, who advised on the deal, said on Monday.
This is the largest transaction on the Romanian industrial market in this year, JLL Romania said in a press release.
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The facility was developed in Stefanesti, in northern Bucharest, by Belgium's Warehouses de Pauw (WDP).
"Together with Metro we have designed a very structured tender process with a strict timeline that allowed to conclude the contract in only six months from the start. It was a complex project involving both ambient and temperature control areas, the biggest challenge being to set up all the details for a record transaction of more than 58,000 sq m," JLL Romania head of Industrial Department, Costin Banica, said.
The aim of the process was to create synergies within the organisation and the suppliers network. Moreover, through the result of this process Metro adressed the work force issue, as the western part of Bucharest, a prime industrial area, is facing a shortage of logistics workers. The companies operating there must attract workers that live 50-60 km away, JLL said.
"Stefanesti offers all the advantages of an emerging area including a higher availability of work force. Metro has appreciated the operational advantage of being in an area were the Ring Road is developed as an express road together with very good connections with A1 highway to Pitesti and inner Bucharest,” JLL Romania Business Development Director, Viorel Opait, said.
This trend of consolidating the logistic operations in order to optimise the supply chain with the retail networks is present more and more on the industrial market, JLL noted.
JLL is a professional services firm that specializes in real estate and investment management.
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