The Corall mall, whose construction started this spring is 70% completed, and the company is now in talks with potential tenants, its officials said.
Cora representatives did not provide any details about Corall’s potential tenants. When the company first announced the project in 2011, it said Corall would include an 8,500 square meter hypermarket, a 25,000 square meter shopping gallery, a movie theater and a food court.
It had initially announced a EUR100 million investment and set mid 2012 as completion target. As with most retail projects in Romania, it too was eventually delayed.
Corall is a medium-sized mall and will compete with Maritimo, Tom, City Park and Tomis in Constanta. Once Corall has opened, Constanta will become the city with the most malls in Romania, second only to Bucharest.
Cora, owned by French-Belgian group Louis Delhaize, is not the only retailer to expand into malls in Romania, as both Carrefour and Auchan have announced similar plans lately.
The three will continue to invest in hypermarkets, the first of their business segments they introduced in Romania.
Cora posted last year revenue of EUR325 million, similar to 2010, generated by eight hypermarkets. It expects 4% increase in revenue this year, after having opened its ninth store in Bacau on Thursday, the first in the eastern part of the country. The hypermarket required a EUR42 million investment, including the cost of land, and Cora plans to open another one, this time in Bucharest, by yearend.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)