S+B Gruppe Secures Planning Permission for 12MW NIMB Data Center in Bucharest

Austrian real estate developer S+B Gruppe has received planning permission from municipal authorities to construct a 12MW data center in Bucharest, Romania, marking the company's first entry into the country's data center market. The facility, named NIMB, will be built in the city's northern office district and is expected to open in 2028.

The project has secured both a building permit and a grid connection request, positioning it as a Tier III certified facility. Once completed, NIMB will offer 36,597 square feet (3,400 square meters) of white space, designed to accommodate cloud providers, hyperscale operators, technology firms, and financial institutions as potential tenants. Future customers will also benefit from access to international network connections through all major carriers currently operating in Romania.

S+B Gruppe, founded in 1986 in Vienna, manages a portfolio exceeding 414,000 square meters (4.4 million square feet) across central and eastern Europe, with a total investment volume of €8.1 billion ($9.4 billion). The company has previously specialized in office and residential developments, making NIMB its inaugural foray into Romania's data center sector.

The Bucharest data center market is becoming increasingly competitive. According to DataCenterMap, the city already hosts at least 31 data centers, and several additional projects have been announced across Romania. These include an 80MW project by US technology firm DriverAI in the northwestern county of Cluj and a 70MW facility developed by industrial manufacturer Sany International in Timișoara, western Romania. Belgian real estate firm Warehouses De Pauw has also expressed general interest in data center investments amid unconfirmed reports of two new facilities planned in Ilfov County, outside Bucharest.

The entry of S+B Gruppe into Romania's data center market reflects the broader growth trajectory of digital infrastructure across Eastern Europe, driven by rising demand for cloud services, AI workloads, and data sovereignty requirements. As regional markets attract both established developers and new entrants, competition for land, power, and connectivity is intensifying, with Bucharest emerging as a key hub for future capacity.