Popescu and his partners inaugurated the complex at the end of 2010 following a EUR10 million investment and hoped to have the 7,000 square meters of retail space filled with shops and stands rented for EUR30/square meter/month, about as much as malls in Bucharest charge for their space.
As most of the complex was still empty after a while, the investors used half of it for a supermarket, which did not perform that great, either.
“Doldora is undergoing transformation. We are working on that now. The supermarket concept did not work, which is why we closed it. I will be able to provide more details in a couple of weeks,” Gica Popescu who owns 25% in the complex told ZF. The other shareholders, who own 37.5% each, are Marius Roates and George Saguna.
Bucharest Court of Law ruled for the insolvency of Doldora Capital, the developer of the complex early in July, as petitioned by security company Nei Guard, an issue that Popescu says “will be fixed”.
Doldora Capital posted revenues of EUR345,000 last year and loss of EUR893,000, while debt stood at EUR10.9 million, according to its filing with the Finance Ministry. Its biggest creditor is UniCredit, which lent it EUR7 million, according to the Electronic Archive for Secured Transactions (AEGRM).
When Doldora first opened, Gica Popescu said that before starting construction, he had commissioned market surveys, which showed 160,000 people lived near the site and he relied on those surveys for his business.
In November 2012, Popescu said on ZF Live that the investment in Doldora was based on the surveys of a consultant he did not name and that despite having followed the consultant’s advice to the letter, Doldora did not work. He added back then that those consultants should take responsibility.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)