Bucharest, which accounts for more than one third of the stock of modern retail space in Romania put at 2.7 million square meters, will see the biggest new investments in malls over the coming years.
After this year’s opening of Mega Mall, a EUR165 million investment by South African investment fund NEPI, a new mall, Parklake Plaza, is under development by Sonae Sierra and Caelum Development in Titan district (SE Bucharest) in a EUR180 million investment.
Another shopping center, Veranda, will be built in the Obor area (a semi-central location) by the Pogonaru family on the site of the former Prodplast plant in an investment put at more than EUR60 million.
The malls inaugurated in the last few years are preparing for expansion, to be able to add more retailers or entertainment space. One such example is Promenada in northern Bucharest, where NEPI bought 1.2 hectares of land to develop another 25,000 square meters of retail and entertainment space. NEPI is also working on expanding the City Park in Constanta and plans to develop two new retail projects in medium-sized cities, Piatra Neamt and Satu Mare.
The investment fund has recently signed a pre-contract to buy 12 hectares in Ramnicu Valcea, where it wants to develop a shopping center.
Another city busy developing shopping centers is Timisoara. Three malls totaling more than 150,000 square meters will be built in the city over the next three years, following investment put at almost EUR200 million.
Two of them, Timisoara Plaza of Israeli-held Plaza Centers and Timisoara Centrum, a project supervised by Ali Ergun Ergen, the man who used to run Baneasa and Plaza malls in Bucharest, were announced this summer.
The third, developed by NEPI on the site of the former Dermatina plant might be partly completed this year, following EUR80 million investments. The three new projects will compete with Iulius Mall, which has been the only major modern retail space in the city for years.
The Iulius Mall owner, Iasi-based entrepreneur Iulian Dascalu, announced he would start expanding his retail business with a EUR220 million project that will take up 594,000 square meters, Openville, and incorporate the Iulius Mall as well as add office space, entertainment space and a park.
Brasov saw its first mall, Coresi, open this year, while Israeli-held AFI bought a plot of land on the former Hidromecanica site to develop a shopping center. The project will also include office space and require a EUR60 million to EUR70 million investment, according to the latest information available.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)