“The structure of the hypermarket is finished and the shopping gallery is about 40% done. We wanted to finish the hypermarket first because it was the most difficult and we hope to deliver the space to Auchan in November so they have time to arrange it by next spring. (…) We hope to open the store in the first quarter of 2015, most likely somewhere around March 15-20, 2015,” Immochan Romania general manager Tatian Diaconu told a news conference Tuesday.
The next stage of the project will be a residential area for which Immochan is negotiating with the developer of the Avandargen 2 residential compound in Brasov, Daniela Kaspar, involved in the construction of several residential areas in Brasov and Cluj.
“We are in advanced talks with the developer of Avangarden 2 and the construction of the first two apartment buildings could start in April 2015. Until then, Immochan should complete infrastructure works, namely access roads and utilities. We have allotted 36 hecatres of land for the residential project. We could sell the land, and that would be the easiest thing to do, but we are looking at other options as well. We want a partner that will build and not just keep the land for real estate deals,” said Diaconu.
The land was initially supposed to host 3,000 apartments but plans have been redesigned and the number of homes reduced to around 2,000, in 4 and 5-storied buildings. The homes will have affordable prices under the government-backed mortgage lending “First Home” program.
Immochan bought a 100-hectare plot of land off the former industrial platform Tractorul Brasov in 2012 and the development of its project is set to take 15 years .
The Coresi shopping center will have a 6,000 sqm entertainment area with an eight-room multiplex cinema and a food-court, the biggest Auchan hypermarket in Transylvania, with a sale surface of 13,300 sqm, and a shopping gallery with a rentable surface of 32,000 sqm.
The shopping center is 64% rented out and the occupancy rate is estimated to reach 80-85% by summer.
Three other large retail project have been announced for Brasov, one in the southern part of the city, owned by NEPI, Korona, developed by Poland’s Echo Investments, and one in the city center announced by France’s Cora. None of these projects has been started so far.