Plaza Centers N.V, a leading emerging markets property developer, announced on February 10 2009 that it had acquired a site in Hunedoara, Romania.
The 41 000-sq m site near Hunedoara city centre would be developed into a modern shopping and entertainment centre, with a built area of 28 000 sq m, and 20 000 sq m of lettable space. The centre had a catchment area of 500,000 people in the region, the developer said.
The development project is expected to cost approximately 37 million euro, with construction due to start in mid-2008 and be completed in the first quarter of 2010.
This acquisition represents Plaza’s sixth development scheme in Romania since it acquired its first project in November 2006. The company’s other projects in Romania include its developments at Slatina, Iasi, Timisoara, Miercurea Ciuc and the landmark Casa Radio project in the heart of Bucharest, which comprises more than 500 000 sq m of built area including shopping, leisure, office and conference facilities.
In total, Plaza is now in the process of developing over 700 000 sq m of retail and leisure space across the country, with anticipated completion dates ranging from 2008 to 2012.
“Hunedoara, with a population of 80 000 people, is an expanding city which is benefiting from a significant level of new investment. We see this project as an opportunity to offer a unique shopping and entertainment experience for people in the region, who previously have not had access to such high quality facilities. We believe that we can attract some major local and international brands to the area, with demand for prime retail sites strong across all parts of Romania," Plaza Centers CEO Ran Shtarkman said.
“Plaza has a proven ability to create significant value for shareholders from this type of development project, by offering a unique product on time and within budget. We continue to look for further opportunities in Romania and across the rest of our target market,” he added.
