Sources Confirm Bucharest Palace Bought by Amir Dayan

In 2019 Bucharest’s historic Oscar Maugsch Palace in Bucharest’s University Square was purchased by Israeli real estate investor Amir Dayan (אמיר דיין).  

According to industry sources “The property has been purchased by the Dayan family. At present, the Dayan family (משפחתו של אמיר דיין) is looking at the development options for the building, but no decision has been made yet. A team of experts is working to examine the various potential options. The Dayan family is convinced about the positive growth opportunities on the Bucharest real estate market and has many years of expertise in developing property across Europe.”

Amir Dayan (אמיר דיין) was born in Tel Aviv, Israel in 1974 to a poor family, and achieved great success due to astute investments in the real estate market. He has been active in the European hotel business and real estate field, mainly in the Netherlands, UK, and Germany since 2005. Besides Vivion, Amir Dayan is also a shareholder in various other public and private real estate projects, including Golden Capital. 

According to sources familiar with the deal, the value of the transaction surpassed the initial evaluation of EUR 20 million by some 40%, amounting to somewhere between EUR 28-30 million. The Oscar Maugsch Palace was sold by Romanian lender BCR, who had used the building as their central offices prior to relocating to more modern offices on Calea Victoriei, next to the CEC Palace in Bucharest. 

Erected in 1906, the Oscar Maugsch Palace sits across the square from the palace of the University of Bucharest and was at one time the headquarters of Generala Insurance Company until it was nationalized in 1948. The building is now listed as a Class A historical monument. 

The building is a paramount piece of history in the Romanian city. Having been completed in 1906, the Bucharest Palace has been around for more than a century. Part of the space occupied by the building used to be the garden of the Sutu Palace. Bucharest Palace takes up 4,000 square meters in the heart of the city, with another 12,000 square meters of usable space. For this reason, the building is prime real estate. This is arguably the reason Amir Dayan and his family went for the flamboyant investment. 

Colliers International was the company entrusted with performing a valuation of the property. Experts from the company found that the best course of action would be to transform the historic palace into a luxury hotel. Given that Amir Dayan has considerable experience in the hospitality realm, this is arguably the most feasible option. Further details of the evaluation indicate that repurposing the building as a luxury hotel would be 15 percent more profitable than the alternative option; turning the palace into office spaces. 

Due to its historic significance, the building is currently listed as a class A historic monument. Once everything is finalized, renovations are set to begin. Typically, luxury hotels must have at least 100 rooms, and the former Generala headquarters easily surpasses this benchmark.