Bulgarian president Rosen Plevneliev attended the opening of a new shopping centre in Sofia on Friday. Bulgaria Mall comprises 30,000 m[sup]2[/sup] of retail space and a 20,000 m[sup]2[/sup] office tower (completion end-2013) over a full project size of 100,000 m[sup]2[/sup]. The shopping centre is located at the intersection of the Bulgaria and Todor Kableshkov boulevards.
Bulgarian president Rosen Plevneliev attended the opening of a new shopping centre in Sofia on Friday. Bulgaria Mall comprises 30,000 m2 of retail space and a 20,000 m2 office tower (completion end-2013) over a full project size of 100,000 m2. The shopping centre is located at the intersection of the Bulgaria and Todor Kableshkov boulevards.
Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov performed a ribbon cutting and blessing ceremony on Saturday, four years after he attended the ground breaking for the project when he was mayor of Sofia.
The project, valued at EUR 135 mln, was funded with equity from clients of Salamanca Group and debt was provided by UniCredit Bulbank and Bank Austria.
Salamanca Group is a Cyprus-based merchant bank and operational risk management business. Its clients are high-net worth individuals, family offices and institutions. The scheme was developed by Bulgarian-based developer MRPI and construction was carried out by Belgian group Cordeel.
Comprising over 100 retail units, Bulgaria Mall's tenants includes international brands such as supermarket anchor Carrefour, fashion anchor H&M, and retail anchor Debenhams which is opening its first store in Bulgaria at the scheme.
The mall's leisure and entertainment facilities include Arena cinemas, a children's entertainment area and an entire floor dedicated to local and international restaurants.
'This is one of the largest mall developments completed in South Eastern Europe this year and it was completed on time and within budget,' Nikos Koulouras, director of Salamanca Group’s London-based real estate division, told PropertyEU.
'Bulgaria Mall could not be in a better location - right on Bulgaria Boulevard, near the ring road and between the affluent residential area of Boyana and Sofia centre. This prime location gives it a competitive advantage and will enable this high-end mall to succeed in the long term.'
'We signed the finance facility agreement a few days before Lehman Brothers collapsed and thus we had commitment, but still had to draw down the money. It was challenging and took two years for the bank to actually lend. A successful project comes down to the product, the team and the location.'
Work is now to begin on a 17-storey, 20,000 m2 office tower, with completion scheduled for end-2013.
