Major property deal in Budapest

Hungary bought a 12,000-square-meter plot suitable for the purposes of Budapest's new convention center from a subsidiary of TriGránit, investor Sándor Demján's real estate development company, news site Napi.hu reported.

The value of the transaction is confidential. Budapest has long lacked a state-of-the-art convention centre of a capacity of several thousand visitors. The riverfront plot is located next to the MüPa cultural center, south of Budapest's historic central area.

Portfolio.hu points out that barely two months after a government decision that approved the project, the Hungarian state has already acquired the plot to build a state-of-the-art convention center suitable for 4,000-5,000 visitors.

The past 15 years have seen the completion of several major projects in the same area, including Hungary's National Theater, the MüPa cultural centre (also known as Palace of Arts), and several office buildings. Plans to build an up-to-date convention center, something Budapest does not have, has been on the agenda several times but never came to be realized.

The new expo centre is to be constructed on the 12,000-sqm plot next to the MüPa. The project was announced by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán in February. The costs, estimated at HUF 2 billion back in 2000, could have increased tenfold over the past 15 years. In addition to EU co-funding, the government is ready to use its own resources to launch the project. A tender invitation for design is expected in the near future, in which TriGránit intends to participate, CEO Árpád Török said.

Plans to construct a convention centre suitable to host events with several thousand attendees in Budapest have been on the agenda for more than a decade now. The hospitality industry has repeatedly called for a suitable facility the lack of which has hitherto made it impossible for the city to host major global conventions.