Sonae Sierra is to invest a total of EUR 293 mln in its first two shopping and leisure centre developments in Romania. The company has completed the acquisition of two sites in the cities of Ploiesti and Craiova for the schemes. The Portuguese retail property specialist entered the Romanian market in May this year with the acquisition of the 12,360 m[sup]2[/sup] River Plaza Mall in the south-western city of Ramnicu Valcea.
Sonae Sierra is to invest a total of EUR 293 mln in its first two shopping and leisure centre developments in Romania. The company has completed the acquisition of two sites in the cities of Ploiesti and Craiova for the schemes. The Portuguese retail property specialist entered the Romanian market in May this year with the acquisition of the 12,360 m2 River Plaza Mall in the south-western city of Ramnicu Valcea.
In a statement on Thursday, Sonae Sierra said it will invest EUR 153.6 mln at Ploiesti, 60 kilometres north of Bucharest, to develop a 64,000 m2 mall on a 16-hectare site. Construction of the mall is scheduled to begin next year, with the inauguration to follow in 2010. A 100-hectare area around the shopping centre will be urbanised over the next six years, and will include housing, office and service buildings, schools, and public gardens.
The new shopping and leisure centre in Craiova - Romania's sixth largest city located 240 kilometres west of Bucharest - will have a gross lettable area of 55,537 m2. The total investment volume for the development on a 6-hectare site near the city centre is just under EUR 140 mln. Construction of the shopping centre is already under way, and the inauguration will take place in the fall of 2009.
Sonae Sierra owns a total of 47 shopping centres and a retail park, providing more than 1.8 million m2, in Portugal, Spain, Italy, Germany, Greece, Romania and Brazil.