Sonae Sierra delays projects in Bucharest and Ploiesti, stops on-site works in Craiova

The shopping mall in Craiova, the only one of the three projects with works at the site underway, was already 70 percent pre-leased, but this did not help the developer secure the necessary bank financing. The mall in Craiova required EUR 140 million in investment, according to previous information.
The developer had announced plans to build three shopping centers in Romania. The biggest of them was in Bucharest, a 110,000-sqm shopping mall due for completion in 2011, which required a EUR 600 million investment.
Sonae Sierra owns the River Plaza shopping mall in the city of Ramnicu Valcea, for which it paid EUR 42 million in 2007, when it entered the market. It also owns 51 percent of shopping center Arena Mall in Bacau, which it bought for around EUR 45 million. The Portuguese developer wanted to be among the top three developers and mall owners in Romania in terms of lettable areas in three to five years, according to previous statements.
Sonae Sierra is one of several real estate developers which have halted their projects in Romania. Hungarian Ablon has abandoned its planned residential projects, as has Copper Beech, which decided to continue only one residential project at which construction works were already underway. Recently, Austrian construction company Strabag suspended construction works at the Asmita Gardens residential project, due to payment delays by its developer Charlemagne Capital.
Corina Saceanu