Floreasca

The Floreasca-Barbu Văcărescu area ranks among Bucharest's newest and most dynamic office hubs, still expanding, with more than 55,000 people working there.

District 1 covers the northern and north-western part of Bucharest. With 264,185 residents, it is the least populous of the six administrative sectors, accounting for 12.5% of Bucharest's population of 2,108,049. At 68 km², however, it is by far the largest by land area — more than a quarter of the city's 236 km² — and holds 163,088 dwellings, or 15.1% of the capital's housing stock of 1,082,392.

About the area

The area, at a glance

Floreasca has become one of the liveliest districts in the north: a lake, restaurants, Class A offices a few steps away and a mix of new blocks and established buildings. The area attracts professionals who want to live close to the Barbu Văcărescu business hub. Demand consistently outstrips supply.

History

In the 17th century, the area was occupied by the village of Florești, part of the Florescu boyar estate, which would give the district its name. After the death of the estate's owner, Elena Cornescu, in 1916, the estate was bought by Banca Chrissovelloni, which sold it off in lots in 1922, the moment that marks the birth of the district, at the height of a wave of migration towards Bucharest. Between 1913 and 1922, the architect Reiner led an urbanisation project with residential blocks still in use today, and in 1936 Lake Floreasca was created on the Colentina. In the interwar period, the area known as “Groapa Floreasca” (the Floreasca Pit) was a poor and only partly electrified district. Between 1954 and 1962, the Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej regime built Bucharest's first microdistrict (microraion) here, with sports grounds, a cinema, a market and schools. The pit was removed in 1960, and Floreasca Park appeared on its site between 1961 and 1963.

Amenities and access

Floreasca Park (55,578 sqm), laid out in 1961-1963 on the former site of the “Groapa Floreasca” and fully renovated in 2008, remains the district's main green space, next to Lake Floreasca, 70 ha created in 1936, linked to Lake Herăstrău by a lock and to Lake Tei by a dam.

Promenada Mall: around 120 shops, in the Floreasca City Center complex.
Floreasca City Center / SkyTower: the tallest building in Romania, 137 m.
AFI Park Floreasca: 38,200 sqm office campus, at the Pipera-Barbu Văcărescu junction, 50 m from the metro.
Globalworth Tower: 120 m, 26 storeys, the second tallest building in the country.
Hotel Caro: on the shore of Lake Tei, built on the site of a former glucose factory.
Access: Aurel Vlaicu metro (two stops to Piața Victoriei), Bulevardul Barbu Văcărescu and Calea Floreasca towards the centre.