Last fall, real estate developers had inaugurated six malls over the course of six weeks, which had required EUR350 million investments, according to a ZF analysis.
The market has reached saturation in many large cities and some of the investors that had land they planned to build a shopping center on have changed their mind and are now looking for another use for it.
On the other hand, financing problems delayed the start of work on a number of other projects, while the developers of other malls that had started construction work in cities such as Galati, Craiova and Miercurea Ciuc (south-eastern, southern and central Romania) stopped because of the crisis and have not resumed it yet.
Another investment besides the mall in Ploiesti developed by NEPI and Carrefour Property and scheduled for opening on November 15 is Uvertura Mall in Botosani (NE Romania). This shopping center, an investment of businessman Danut Prisecariu, has been postponed several times and therefore its opening date is uncertain, considering the representatives of the developer have not even announced the tenants yet. However, the mall’s website says it should open in October.
Even if this project were to open, retail investments completed this fall would still be far from last year’s level, when Electroputere Craiova, Maritimo Constanta, Galleria Arad, Oradea Shopping City, Colosseum Chitila and Botosani Shopping Center opened. They took EUR350 million investments to complete.
One thing should be noted, though and that is the opening of the mall inside the Palas Iasi complex in the first half of 2012, the biggest real estate investment outside Bucharest and also a project that raised the standards on the local retail market.
On the other hand, hypermarket networks are hard at work to open in time for Christmas. Three new stores should be ready by then, one in Rahova, southwestern Bucharest (Cora), one in Mihai Bravu, close to the city central area (Kaufland) and one in Giulesti in the northwest part of the city (Auchan). Cora is also preparing to open a store with a shopping gallery in Bacau (eastern Romania).
Work on the three hypermarkets in Bucharest seems to be on schedule for a November or early December opening, in time for the best part of the year for business, as retail chains believe.
Next year will not be very productive in terms of shopping centers completed, either. The projects that might welcome customers in 2013 include only Promenada Mall in Bucharest, AFI Palace in Ploiesti and Corall Constanta.
As for the rest, many developers have voiced intent, but hardly any work is done on the land bought for millions or tens of millions of euros before the crisis.
South Africa’s NEPI, French-held Immochan and Cora and Israeli-owned AFI Europe are on the short list of companies that invested in retail during the crisis and they seem to keep their bet on a consumer spending rebound in Romania going over the next few years.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)