City Mall shopping centre, located in southern Bucharest will be relaunched this autumn, less than one year after its opening. The new owners hired real estate broker Colliers to reshuffle tenants and attract international brands to the mall.
This shopping centre has changed its owners twice thus far, and is now held by a group of British investors. According to the sources on the real estate market, the Brits took over the 38,000 square metre centre in a deal worth over 46 million euros, with funding taken from banking loans.
Trade Registry data show City Mall to be held by Victoria Holding, whose shareholders are two companies registered in Cyprus, AP Investments and Kalidom Holdings Limited, as well as British nationals Steve Jonathan Kaye and Warrant Roiter. The construction of the centre cost 35 million euros, says developer Jaguar Development.
In less than one year, City Mall has lost same of its tenants.
"The main reason we closed (the shop i.e.) was the gap between Turabo's target and the City Mall patrons. We tried to reduce the contract, at least for a while, but in the end decided to relocate the coffee shop to Sibiu," Tudor Dragomir Nicolescu, general manager of Turabo Cafe, one of the best-known brands to have left City Mall told ZIARUL FINANCIAR.
Besides Turabo Cafe, other tenants to have terminated their contracts with City Mall include less known companies like apparel shops Tezal and Estella, Tazza Grande and Grade Cafe Peru coffee shops and the La Sura restaurant.
"Replacing coffee shops is part of our marketing policy, which includes limiting the number of cafes to four, which is considered enough. We have a strategy we are working on with Colliers exclusively and we want to focus on bringing major international brands to this mall.
"In principle, the big shops and international brands are replacing the small shops we inherited from the former owner," stated Valentin Preda, City Mall's general manager.
Most of the tenants had been taken over by the developer of the mall, Jaguar Development from Sirius Investitii, the company that had first announced the project in 2003.
When buying the City Mall project in the autumn of 2004, Jaguar Development had terminated another 15 contracts with tenants, Valentin Preda says.
The new names to have entered or that are ready to enter City Mall this year include brands already present in other shopping complexes.
"We have already signed the contracts with BSB Fashion, Springtime and Finansbank, which are to open outlets in the City Mall within the month. We are also in talks with other chains, especially apparel stores, but the contracts have yet to be finalised," Preda stated.
BSB Fashion will occupy exactly the same spot Turabo Cafe used to. "We want to expand our network and hope this store will yield the same results are the rest of our outlets," stated Rada Pantea, country manager BSB Fashion, which owns nine stores throughout the entire country, four of which in Bucharest.
Pentru alte știri, analize, articole și informații din business în timp real urmărește Ziarul Financiar pe WhatsApp Channels
