"Even with the current economic conditions we would still have a lot to lose if one of the retailers left, had we postponed the opening until March, when 100% of the mall would have been complete," Ostahie said.
Aurora Shopping Mall in Buzau, which covers 25,000 square metres, is 85% rented, with the main anchors being a Carrefour hypermarket and an Altex store, in addition to retailers such as New Yorker, Intersport, Takko and Deichmann. Aurora Mall is a three-storey building, with an underground car park for 460 vehicles, a ground floor and a food court on the first floor.
The investment in the shopping centre amounted to 25 million euros.
"I have no intention of selling or giving up management. The investment amounted to 25 million euros and if we sold, we could get no more than 40 million euros last year. A few investment funds were interested in the project, but we decided to keep it, because it is the main shopping centre of the company," Ostahie said. He added that Aurora Shopping Mall would start turning a profit by spring, at which time all tenants will have settled in.
Cometex officials announced that the shopping project in Brasov would be opened some time in the next two weeks.
The project takes up 8,000 square metres and its main tenants will be Altex, Staer and Piritex.
The company is also planning to develop similar centres in Arad and Timisoara, and then will continue its plans to build a retail park in Alba Iulia in the first half of next year. Ostahie will start work on the shopping gallery in Ploiesti in March 2009, for which he has formed a partnership with Dan Sucu, founder of the Mobexpert business. "We've delayed the project in Ploiesti a bit, because we will develop a big box (megastore) concept there, and would like to attract a third retailer besides Media Galaxy and Mobexpert. We will start work in Ploiesti in the summer," Ostahie explained.
He added that after completion of the projects in Ploiesti, Arad, Timisoara and Alba Iulia, the mall in Buzau would be the biggest shopping centre managed by Cometex. "It is important that we focus on these tasks and then we will consider other projects. We are new to this business and it is important that we spread the retail areas efficiently, instead of focusing our resources in a single place," Ostahie said.
The broker handling the rental of this project was Cushman & Wakefield. The shopping centre's anchors are a Carrefour hypermarket (6,000 square metres) and an Altex store.
Aurora Shopping Mall is located in the commercial area of Buzau, at the exit to Ramnicu Sarat, next to the Galleria shopping centre developed by GTC.
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