Iulius lands EUR 125 million loan for its Palas project

This is the biggest loan granted this year for a real estate development, outstripping the EUR 93 million received by Swan Property from Investkredit Bank and Bank Austria Creditanstalt for its Swan Office Park project.
The volume of loans granted to real estate developers for their Romanian projects has thus exceeded EUR 500 million, according to their public announcements.
The Palas project is being developed by Iulius Group, controlled by businessman Iulian Dascalu, in partnership with the local Iasi council, which owns the land. The Palas project, to expand on 12 hectares close to the Culture Palace in Iasi, should be completed in 2010. The firm has started construction works on the first of the two office buildings to be part of the mixed project. The project will feature almost 250,000 sqm of built area in total, with 40 percent covered by underground parking. The residential area will cover 70,000 sqm, retail some 42,500 sqm, two office buildings 15,500 sqm, and hotels around 18,250 sqm. The entertainment area will include a Royal Park, developed on approximately 50,000 sqm of built area.
The entire project is estimated to cost EUR 250 million by completion. Iulius Group was assisted by Badea Clifford Chance law firm in receiving the loan. The Romanian developer owns three shopping malls in Iasi, Timisoara and Cluj-Napoca and is underway with works for a new mall in Suceava as well. The company has started works on expanding the mall in Timisoara up to double the existing area.
Corina Saceanu