Prefect intervention puts brake on ParkLake Plaza project

The mall component of the project, under the joint development of Polish Caelum and Portuguese Sonae Sierra, which bought into the project earlier this year, is 45 percent leased, according to the developers.
The prefect's decision to call for the annulment was triggered by the alleged illegal certificate of urbanism, which had been received based on an expired zonal urban planning (PUZ). Tincu said several non-governmental organizations had pointed out the alleged illegality. The NGOs have argued the project will be built on eight hectares of green area in the IOR park.
Caelum Development representatives have however said the land plot is not part of the park and has never been part of the public domain. The developer has already invested EUR 100 million in the project, including the land, given zonal planning at the time. “Any attempts to change the urbanistic parameters of the land and the area overnight are bound to cause considerable financial problems and set a dangerous precedent for investors who want to develop projects in Romania,” Caelum Development said in a statement. The land plot on which the project is supposed to be built was part of the former Spartac sports base, but was never established as as sports base itself, say company representatives.
The ParkLake Plaza shopping mall will feature 110,000 sqm of leasable area in 400 stores. The mall will be anchored by a Cora hypermarket on 12,500 sqm and by a Cinema City cinema with 14 screens. The project will also feature offices and residences.
Corina Saceanu