"The question is not how much time we have lost because of thecrisis, but how much more time we will lose," says Ingo Nissen,country manager of Portuguese-held Sonae Sierra, one of the biggestmall owners in Europe, which, after three years on the Romanianmarket, has yet to build anything.
The Portuguese have an operating mall in Ramnicu-Valcea,acquired in 2007, and have bought two plots in Craiova and Pitesti,as well as a 50% stake in the ParkLake Plaza mall project, inBucharest's Titan district, but the crisis, retailers' reluctance,and financing difficulties have led to an investment freeze.
An overall 900 million euros in investments had been originallyannounced for the three malls. In the meantime, the crisis hasadjusted the numbers, with the Portuguese group now focusing on theCraiova mall.
"Of course we will stay on the Romanian market," the managersays. We are doing the most work for the Craiova project. We havesigned new contracts, with Cora, Cinema City, Maxbet, and willannounce two new tenants over the coming period. 30% of our spaceis rented in advance, but we think we need around 50-60% of thespace rented in order to secure the financing," adds Nissen.
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