Immochan, together with Auchan, are currently developing two shopping centers in Bucharest’s Drumul Taberei area and on Tractorul platform of Brasov. The projects involve investments of EUR120 million and are scheduled for opening next spring.
“From our calculations, Romania currently holds around 200-220 tenants with national coverage and we have 130 spaces in the project of Brasov. We started to work with our Immochan colleagues of other markets to attract brands that fared the crisis well and now have the courage to invest elsewhere,” stated Diaconu.
The first foreign brand Immochan managed to bring in Romania is Spain’s sports goods retailer Decimas, which has a network of around 380 stores. The retailer will open a 400-sqm store in the project of Drumul Taberei and an almost 600-sqm unit in Brasov.
Through this move, Immochan has attracted in Romania a rival for Intersport and Hervis, as well as for Decathlon.
Diaconu says he has so far signed contracts with around 60-70 tenants that will fill over 20,000 square meters in the 32,000-sqm commercial gallery of Coresi project of Brasov. The tenants include Spain’s Inditex, Kenvelo group and Flanco.
The project will have an area of around 45,000 square meters, and will include an Auchan hypermarket.
Diaconu says there are around 400 people on the site of Brasov, and works are carried out by Bog’Art and Conarg construction companies.
Coresi shopping center, the first of such a size in Brasov, targets regional coverage and 10 million visitors per annum in 3-4 years. At least another 3-4 new retail projects have been announced in Brasov by investors such as Echo Investment, Cora or NEPI, but for the time being the only mall underway is the one developed by Immochan, which earmarked own funds for investments in Romania.
The shopping center of Drumul Taberei is also scheduled for opening next spring. It will have an around 10,000-sqm commercial gallery and a new Auchan hypermarket. The new headquarters of the group will be fitted out on the upper floors.
With these two new stores, Auchan, a company with sales of above EUR1 billion in Romania in 2013, will reach a network of 35 hypermarkets, with 22 of these located in owned spaces. Immochan official did not comment on this information.
Immochan has recently started providing property management services for other shopping center owners as well. The first “client” is Scotland’s group Aberdeen Asset Management, owner of Iris Titan project, where the first Auchan hypermarket of Romania was opened in 2006.
(English version by Catalina Apostoiu)