How would you describe the key factors that contributed to the success of Delta Real Estate in the previous year, especially considering the results achieved and revenue growth?
There is no overnight success in any business, and this is especially true for Real Estate. Our success is the result of many years of work.
Last year was certainly marked by the opening of the business-congress part of the Sava Center, which was accompanied by phenomenal interest from the general public, not only business. The result is the organization of as many as 60 events in just 45 working days.
When we talk about results, the story always leads to operating profit, and we can boast that in 2023 we achieved record results in all business segments: hotels, shopping malls and business space. This is of course not the result of work only during the last 12 months, but the result of setting up good concepts and following clear development plans.
When we talk about shopping malls, for example, we are present in markets like Nis or Banja Luka, where there is room for only one dominant shopping center and that is exactly our Delta Planet. We offered those cities something that did not exist until then. Malls are a dynamic concept, in order to achieve an increase in the number of visits and income of tenants, and therefore your profit, you must constantly be fresh in your offer, innovative and interesting to consumers. Through our shopping mall, as many visitors pass through our shopping mall per day as the approximate number of visitors received by the Belgrade Arena. In order to keep them and attract new ones, you really have to have a current and interesting offer.
Last year, guided by positive trends in the hotel business, we completed the acquisition of the Radisson Collection hotel and thus completed our offer with additional accommodation on the other side of the Sava river, and already in the first months of operation we are very satisfied with the results achieved.
In the business space segment, our occupancy rate has been 100% for many years, which shows that the tenants have recognized the quality of our space.
Because of this, success really isn’t something you secure in a 12-month period. It is something that you prepare well in advance, before the actual construction of the facilities. We deal with projects much longer than the construction process itself – we put them on a sound basis even before the construction works begin.
What will the realization of the most important projects that Delta Real Estate plans to realize in the coming period, such as Delta Land in Belgrade and Delta Iron in Novi Sad, look like?
The projects in front of us are truly monumental, in terms of size, quality of offer and architectural and construction solutions.
The Delta District project is located in the most attractive part of the business center of New Belgrade, where we will build a 5-star hotel, an office building and a residential part connected to the hotel and serviced by the hotel as a unique offer on the market of high-end apartments. The end of the project is at the beginning of EXPO 2027, so those 100,000 m2 will be intensively built in order to finish the project on time.
Delta Land is particularly interesting because it includes buildings that are a cultural and historical asset of the city of Belgrade. These are office buildings that we will completely reconstruct, but also some parts of the buildings that will be preserved. We included that heritage in the architecture of our plan to build business, residential and retail facilities on 5.4 ha of land. This monumental project in terms of size and number of residential units is most reminiscent of Belville, our first residential project, but also the first mixed-use real estate project in Belgrade. We feel privileged that with the construction of Delta Land we will preserve the great cultural and historical heritage and the great legacy of Miloš Savčić, the former mayor of Belgrade. This really motivates us to offer Belgrade an authentic architectural expression that has not been offered in the capital so far. This is where the greatest beauty of working in real estate lies – you can witness the transformation of a part of the city and the improvement of the quality of life.
Novi Sad, the cultural capital of Europe in 2022, is changing and transforming and an increasing number of companies are opening their factories or moving their headquarters to this city. What Novi Sad lacks is a modern business center. We have recognized this and want to add value to Novi Sad in the form of a modern business center that exists in Belgrade and larger cities in the surrounding area. There is a clear business logic behind the plan to give Novi Sad a modern, energy-efficient business complex. Delta Iron will be one of our “greenest” buildings where we will implement various innovations. For the first time, we will do geothermal probes for a business facility, and in addition, the facility will be supplied with energy from a 1.3 MW solar power plant, and during the construction process itself, we will apply all modern technologies. In this way, we will transform the former industrial zone at the very entrance to Novi Sad into a modern business center.
How do you plan to deal with potential challenges during the implementation of new projects, especially considering the complexity and volume of investments?
The core of our plans for the future is faith in the quality of our projects, a good team that can implement them, and the backbone of everything is good planning and preparation. Our new projects have, first of all, great locations with great potential, which is the most important prerequisite for a successful real estate project. It is important to assess the demands of the market and respond to them in the best way, but very often it is also important to have the courage to apply the saying: “The best way to predict the future is to create it yourself.” This means that it is not enough to just satisfy the current market norms, but to project the direction of movement markets.
How do you expect new projects like Delta Land and Delta Iron to contribute to Delta Real Estate’s business portfolio and broader economic development?
The construction industry is certainly a major driver of economic development. We started these projects at a time when important events are being announced in Belgrade and Serbia. First of all, we are thinking of EXPO 2027, which brings with it numerous accompanying contents and infrastructure development. What is certain is that an extremely dynamic period is ahead of us. Our projects are primarily aimed at the premium segment, and that part of the market is stable – there is a clear demand whose demands we are ready to respond to.
How do you plan to integrate innovative technologies and sustainable practices into Delta Real Estate’s new projects to ensure long-term viability and competitiveness in the market?
Price sensitivity is no longer the only factor that the market sets. It has long shown sensitivity to conventional energy-inefficient solutions applied in commercial and residential buildings. Being energy efficient is no longer a popular narrative – it’s now a necessity. It will be impossible to rent out buildings that do not have proof of energy efficiency or to sell apartments with high energy consumption. It is crucial that we, as investors, become aware of this and move in the direction of nature conservation with the necessary element of commercial profitability, so that the investment cycle can continue.
The carbon footprint of commercial buildings is something that must be kept in mind during design and construction. Simply put, today a balance of sustainability and economic profitability is necessary, and we take this into account in every phase of the development of a real estate project of any purpose. Modern buildings must be flexible, energy efficient and commercially potent – whether it is a hotel, business or residential building.
