“As for Romania, we developed a few shopping centers there and are looking to go back in as well. Bucharest is an attractive city and we’re looking at a niche development there,” said TriGranit chief development officer Tomasz Lisiecki,cited by propertyeu.info.
Lisiecki also said retail is the hottest asset class that investors are after in Poland and Central and Eastern Europe and the Polish market in particular is performing well on the back of strong economic growth .
“A lot of German open-ended funds are looking to acquire retail assets and there is also a lot of local capital ,” he said.
On the other hand, recent legislative changes in Hungary have put a damper on shopping center developments. It’s hard to get a shopping center off the ground and hard to raise money now that banking regulation has changed. But retail is a growth story and Hungary is growing, he said.
Sandor Demjan, TriGranit founder and one of the richest men in Hungary, bought the Atrium Center shopping center in Arad last year. The retail project was developed by Atrium Centers, run by Michael Israeli.
Demjan, who also developed the Polus mall in Cluj, controlled 50% of Atrium Arad since 2010, when the project opened.