Casa Radio developer halts 2bn-euro investments

Plaza Centers, a company controlled by Israeli developer Mordechay Zisser, who also owns the Radisson hotel in Bucharest, has put on hold the eight projects it has on the Romanian market, which entail investments estimated to be worth around two billion euros and include the Dambovita Center project on the site of the Casa Radio (Radio House) in central Bucharest. "At present, the business plan figures for building a shopping centre don't add up so we also halted construction of the Miercurea Ciuc shopping centre. We may have to wait two years, but the prospective revenues from rental, which we are giving up, may be compensated for later," Luc Ronsmans, country manager of Plaza Centers, told ZF. The company has up until now invested around 250 million euros on the Romanian market for the acquisition of a 75% stake in the Dambovita Center project and for land in Iasi, Timisoara, Slatina, Hunedoara, Miercurea Ciuc, Constanta, and Targu Mures. These projects do not generate revenues, but they do not entail significant expenses, either, considering that they were bought from the company's own funds.