Home > Blogs > Max Growth > Winslow Gardens Winslow Gardens creating a stir in the fog On my visit to the site this morning I realised why everyone in Sofia is raving about this landmark development. I arrived in Sofia on Wednesday to glorious sunshine and clear views of Mount Vitosha from the city. But on Thursday morning I was greeted by the worst fog the city has seen in months, causing the airport to shut. Visibility was very poor and not very conducive for activities such as visiting development sites! Despite the fog, however, there was no covering up the level of development that is taking place in the area around Winslow Gardens. The site is located just ten to fifteen minutes drive from the city centre, but with all the greenery and open spaces you feel you could be a million miles away in the countryside. There is a lot of available land in the area with parcels of green space lining Bulgarian Boulevard, en route, from the city centre. This area is Manastirski Livadi, which borders the district of Boyana, home to the UNESCO heritage site of Boyana Monastery. Boyana is one of the wealthiest suburbs of Sofia, characterised by villas sloping up to Mount Vitosha. The route to the city centre, via Bulgaria Boulevard, has always been well-maintained. This is because it is the main route to the city centre from Boyana, where many of Sofia’s diplomats and politicians live. You won’t find any old industrial factories or panelak buildings in Boyana. This was a very prestigious area during the socialist era and any unsightly factories or mass housing was kept out of sight from the people that lived there. This also applies to the bordering area of Manastirski Livadi, which also failed to inherit the old industrial factories or socialist era housing that is more prevalent to the east and north of Sofia. The entire district of Manstirski Livadi is undergoing huge development. It is like a blank canvas untouched by the years of socialism and industrialisation. A master plan has been completed by the city council for the area ensuring all the necessary infrastructure is put in place to support the influx of people the business parks and new living quarters will attract. Looking at the map below, Bulgaria Boulevard leads south from the city centre towards the development. Along this route there are several commercial and residential developments already completed or currently under construction. Car showrooms, fitness centres, jewellery stores and restaurants that line the road are predominantly housed in new, shiny buildings. Billa Hypermarket is already completed and the car park was full of shoppers when we arrived. Across the road the hoardings are up for Bulgaria Mall. According to the website, the project is a high-end shopping centre with a total build area of 115,000 sqm. A total of 45,000 sqm will be underground, allocated to 1,200 parking spaces and a hypermarket. A further 20,000 sqm will be office space in an 80m tower (making it one of Sofia's highest buildings) and 50,000 sqm will be allocated to retail, a cinema and a food hall. Why has the developer decided to locate here? On its website the developer describes Bulgaria Boulevard as “a six-lane road (with a tramline service) linking the city centre to the most prestigious areas of Sofia such as Strelbishte, Belite Brezi, Borovo, Gotse Deltchev and Manastriski Livadi. The boulevard also connects the city centre with Sofia's top residential areas of Boyana, Simeonovo and Dragalevtzi. It goes on to say that, “Todor Kableshkov Street has been identified by the Sofia Municipality as a crucial link for future traffic solutions in the area. The Municipality has already planned the widening of Todor Kableshkov into a six-lane road with a tramway service. The additional aim of creating an internal ring road should also reduce the traffic flow on the main Ring Road.” The developer is confident that “this is one of the most upscale catchment areas of the city. There are roughly 250 000 - 300 000 people with the highest disposable income in the city/country living within an approximate radius of 3 kms.” Continuing further south on Bulgaria Boulevard, on the right hand side of the road, is the futuristic Business Centre Bellissimo, which has a total office space of 16,123 sqm. (http://www.emporis.com/en/wm/bu/?id=businesscentrebellissimo-sofia-bulgaria) This is a well designed commercial building, which would not look out of place in London. It was completed towards the end of last year and took the Stroitelstvo Gradat's "Building of the Year" award, a prestigious architectural award in Bulgaria. Next door to Bellissimo is Sv. Anna Hospital and, across the road, is the new Hotel Festa Barcello. This hotel is a four star hotel, but has been completed to the utmost luxury that it really gives it the feel of a five star. The only reason I could see that this hotel should not be awarded a five star rating was the fact that it borders a huge building site. All the area south of Hotel Festa Barcelo, as far as the ring road and east as far as Lui Ayer, is a massive construction site. Directly due south of Hotel Festa Barcelo, is the City General site – a complex of four office buildings. Also located on Bulgaria Boulevard, and marked just under the “Green F box” south of the site, will be the new headquarters of Bulgaria TV (BTV). It is estimated BTV employs around 200 people and many of the units at Winslow Gardens have already been sold to the current staff at BTV. The main access to Winslow Gardens, which will lead to the south side of the site, will be from Bulgaria Boulevard. The road has not yet been built, however, Winslow Developments Ltd, in conjunction with another developer, will build a four lane access route that will link Bulgaria Boulevard to Winslow Gardens and on to Lui Ayer Street. Access to the north of Winslow Gardens will be via Todor Kableshkov Boulevard and Kostenski Vodopad Boulevard. However, all of the roads in the map that are broken lines are planned roads not yet built. The route of trolleybus 8 is going to be extended to terminate right next to Winslow Gardens on Kostenski Vodopad Boulevard. The city council has approved these plans and will assist with the construction. Bulgaria Boulevard ends at the Ring Road – just a few minutes drive from the Winslow Gardens development. It’s a bit of a car park at the moment due to the construction work, which will extend it to a further two lanes. When this work is completed, Sofia Business Park will only be a ten minute drive away. A total of 10,000 people are employed, in more than 150 companies, in the business park including Motorola, Raiffeisenbank, Postbank, Schneider Electric, Novartis, Tetra Pak, Renault and Dacia. The “green slippers” development, as some people call Winslow Gardens, has created a bit of a stir here in Sofia and a lot of people are taking notice of this landmark development. It’s easy to see why when you go and see the site and the surrounding area. POSTED BY NOREEN LUCEY ON FRI 23RD NOVEMBER AT 13:27 GMT TAGS: Winslow Gardens, Sofia Property, Bulgaria Property, Bulgaria Property [ Back To Blog Home ]

CONTRIBUTORS Neil Lewis Robin Bowman Ben Greenwood Noreen Lucey Stanislaw Staromlynski Brett Tudor Panos Tsigaras First Name Last Name Email  BLOG POSTS Aug 2008 Jul 2008 Jun 2008 May 2008 Apr 2008 Mar 2008 Feb 2008 Jan 2008 Dec 2007 Nov 2007 The Danger of Investing in Cheap Property Winslow Gardens creating a stir in the fog English Fever – here are the headlines for property investors Getting rich (at least fairly) quick – where in the world are the property buying middle classes being created the fastest? Immigration is back on the political agenda – will it push some UK cities back into the Max Growth club? Oct 2007 Sep 2007 Aug 2007 Jul 2007

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