Lease financing company Immorent Bulgaria, part of Erste Bank leasing unit Immorent Aktiengesellschaft, will build an office scheme and a hotel in the center of Sofia, said manager Iliana Schmatelka. The company will develop a lot on Sofia's Todor Alexandrov boulevard into a 6,200 sq m office building at a cost of 12 mln euro. The location of the planned hotel property is at the intersection of the Simeon and Washington streets in the center of the capital.

Talks are underway with major international hotel operators, said Schmatelka. Investment is seen at 10-12 mln euro. Immorent, which lease finances the development of industrial, administrative, logistics and retail schemes, ranked as the nation's 4th biggest property lessor in 2006 with a portfolio worth 10 mln euro, said Schmatelka. The company was involved in the renovation of the BERS logistics hub in Sofia borough Kazichene and of the production and office buildings of the Rotoprint publishing company in Elin Pelin and in the construction of a plant for electric and electronic systems for the automotive industry in Yambol.

The biggest project the company is involved in is the Serdika commercial and business center in Sofia. The project, where Immorent acted as site supervisor, was developed by Sparkassen Immobilien AG, the real estate division of Erste Bank Group, and Germany's ECE Projektmanagement. The complex, due to open in late 2009, has been issued a building permit, said Ernst Vejdovszky, member of the Sparkassen Immobilien managing board. The 180 mln euro Serdika Center is designed for 50,000 sq m of retail and 35,000 sq m of office floor area.

Immorent plans to invest 500 mln euro in retail, office and residential developments through 2010. The company has invested here 85.8 mln euro I the past 3.5 years. It has signed over 120 leasing contracts with companies from the mining, machine-building, road construction and publishing industries.