Westhill Romania head leaves helm for consultancy as firm delays local projects

Newsroom 16/03/2009 | 15:07

“Considering the internal and international economic situation and talking to the owners of each project, Westhill has decided to delay these projects by six to nine months, which prompted me to go it alone in consultancy. I will also stay on as a consultant for Westhill,” Panculescu told Business Review.

The businessman had previously worked in the consultancy area while he was general manager of real estate agency Eurisko.

Thames Property Development is currently working on several consultancy projects on the hotel market, on consultancy for three office buildings in Bucharest and a shopping center elsewhere in the country, according to Panculescu.

Westhill had planned to build two shopping centers in Romania, Zenith shopping center in Ploiesti, and Crizantema Plaza in Targoviste. Zenith, a EUR 140 million investment from Lewis Charles Romania investment fund, was on track for opening in 2010, while Crizantema was expected to require EUR 60 million in investment.

“The local market is in a state of expectancy. […] Probably in a few months we will see the first bankruptcies and the acquisition prices will settle with a normal economic basis, to re-start a correct development of the market. We must not forget that the banking system needs to re-launch mortgage lending with acceptable interest rates for this period,” Panculescu adds.