The sellers were brothers Emil and Marius Cristescu, owners of the Bega group and an Italian shoe manufacturer, which had two hectares of the site.
NEPI got 18 hectares of the plot to develop a shopping center, with construction scheduled to begin later this year, while Dedeman got four hectares to build its second DIY store in the city.
Timisoara has only one large shopping center, the Iulius Mall of businessman Iulian Dascalu, so the 300,000 people city can sustain another mall.
“We will begin with a first 50,000 square meter to 60,000 square meter phase that will entail a EUR70 million to EUR80 million investment,” NEPI chief executive officer Martin Slabbert told ZF.
Talks on the deal started two years ago when the parties agreed on the price, Slabbert said, but the final details were only worked out last week when the agreement was signed.
The plan is to open the first phase of the project in November of next year, he added.
Dedeman already has a store in Timisoara, in the northern part of the city, and its strategy in other major cities like Constanta and Iasi was to develop two DIY stores. The company did not provide any comment on its plans for the newly acquired plot of land by press time.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)