Andrássy Avenue: may yet become a tenants’ paradise

In 2013 the real estate market of Andrassy Avenue became active once again: a number of new brands entered the street’s retail pitch, the fate of the former Ballet Institute finally seems settled, and more and more companies are choosing the classical mansion buildings as their headquarters – according to a snapshot of CBRE.

“The Andrássy Avenue seems to have finally won its rightful place in Budapest’s retail market: the most important luxury brands are present, and the strong supply is attracting more and more customers and tourists alike. Breitling opened its store this year, the luxury multi-brand department store Il Bacio di Stil has been completed this September, and the Emporio Armani shop will soon reopen as well with a new operator. Hungarian fashion is not missing out on the action either: award winning Hungarian luxury brand Nobu has also opened a showroom this summer.

The area of Andrássy Avenue between Nagymező Street and Erzsébet Square caters to mostly luxury brands, while the area between the Oktogon and Nagymező Street includes more popular brands. This is also attested to by the scheduled opening of a new department store for a popular apparel brand in Hungary next summer. Moreover, new restaurants and cafes have also appeared on Andrássy. Investors are once again interested in its properties, so it is no exaggeration to say that Andrássy Avenue is finally fulfilling the role that was intended for it at the turn of the last century when its beautiful mansions were built.” – summarized Anita Csörgő Head of Retail at CBRE Budapest.

In the meantime, tenants are stirring up the market beyond Oktogon as well: many of them are choosing the reasonably priced and at the same time elegant office buildings on Andrássy Avenue. A good example is the Andrássy100 office building, whose owner, AIT Bürotel, in turn managed by an Austrian investment group, has renewed the image of the former residence of the prime minister and also set up an appropriate website for it. “According to our plans, this autumn we will upgrade the common areas and create office spaces with flexible space designs intended for smaller businesses. With CBRE’s help the range of our tenants expanded with two financial service providers during the summer, and we hope other companies will join them during the year.” – said Alfred Ungerböck, CEO of AIT Bürotel.