“We are considering expansion and new shopping centers and potentially replicating Coresi. A project the size of Coresi can only be done in the top seven cities (in terms of population and purchasing power) in Romania,” says Tatian Diaconu, general manager of Immochan Romania.
Immochan has not secured the necessary land for the project yet, he added.
Diaconu’s statements were made at the six-month anniversary of Coresi Brasov.
The shopping center welcomed more than 4 visitors in the six months since its opening or more than 21,000 people a day.
“The nice surprise was that July and August were good months, somewhat out of sync with what happens in Bucharest. The reason was the high number of tourists in Brasov, who started coming or returning to Coresi. As we’ve said before, the center is too big for Brasov, but we wanted to create a regional center.”
The sales of the stores in Coresi, except for the Auchan hypermarket, stood at some EUR25 million. The mall is over 98% rented and retailers include Zara and Reserved, with a bank, an Italian restaurant and a Top Shop store to follow soon.
Diaconu estimates rent revenue of Coresi to exceed EUR6 million in the first year in business.
Immochan has recently started work on the expansion of the mall in Brasov with another 14,000 square meters, an over EUR10 million investment scheduled for completion next April.
The second phase will be divided into three areas: furniture and décor, fashion and fitness, with World Class set to rent 2,400 square meters in this particular area, Diaconu says. Immochan’s talks to rent 85% in the second phase have reached the legal details phase, he added.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)