Sparkassen Immobilien and ECE to invest EUR 180m in Shopping- and Office Center in Sofia

*Construction permit issued for Serdika Center
*Investment volume: EUR 180m
* 200 stores – 2000 new jobs

Vienna stock listed Sparkassen Immobilien AG, the real estate investment company of Erste Bank is developing together with ECE Projektmanagement, Hamburg, the European market leader for shopping centers, one of the biggest shopping and office centers in Sofia. The total investment volume of the new Serdika Center is EUR 180m. The construction permit for this project was recently issued by the Bulgarian authorities. With its 50 000 square meters of sales space on three levels, around 200 high-quality shops, and about 35 000 square meters of office space, the Serdika Center will be setting new dimensions and quality standards in Bulgaria, allowing more than 2 000 new jobs to be created in the scope of the project. The completion for this large shopping and office center is planned for 2009.

Perfect location &ideal mix of shops and offices

The shopping and office center will be located on Sitniakovo Boulevard in the prestigious Oborishte district on the eastern part of the business district. Around 1 800 parking spaces will provide comfortable access to the mall. In addition, several bus and tramway stations are located in direct proximity. In view of its good connection to the area’s traffic network, Serdika Center will be equally attractive for more than 1 million customers and business people who live in the city as well as in the remote districts of Sofia. Considering the supply and demand of shopping space, Bulgaria has a huge potential: per 1000 inhabitants less than 1 square meters of shopping space is available whereas the average shopping space in the EU countries is 171 square meters per 1000 inhabitants.
The main focus of the shopping mall will be on fashion. Several large clothing stores, a large sports shop, and many boutiques will launch international fashion labels which are not yet represented in Bulgaria. A hypermarket and a store for household and entertainment electronics will open in the center as well. A food court offering international and local catering as well as several restaurants and cafés will provide a perfect meeting point for customers to simply enjoy and relax.

Premium quality materials are used for the center’s interior design, including marble, steel, and abundant glass surfaces. By arranging numerous activities such as exhibitions, concerts and festivals, the center management will ensure that, beyond attractive shopping, there is always something new to see and discover in the mall.

35.000 square meters of high standard quality office space will be integrated in the center. The offices offer flexible partitioning and thereby can be fully adapted to the tenants’ requirements. Due to the perfect location headquarters of international companies should be especially attracted.

Strong partners with long term approach

The project has strong and most experienced partners that ensure a high-quality and long-term approach both as investors and developers. Sparkassen Immobilien AG is a major retail and office investor in CEE and just recently started also the biggest shopping center in Bukarest. “Bulgaria and especially Sofia shows a tremendous potential for a long-term substance investor as we are“, states Ernst Vejdovzsky, management board member of Sparkassen Immobilien AG. “Serdika project is our market entry into Bulgaria and due to the attractive yields and the lack of supply and a high demand for shopping centers and class A office spaces we definitely continue with our expansion in this market. And with ECE we have the best partner on board to make Serdika a huge success.”

ECE Projektmanagement is the European market leader in developing, planning, financing, constructing, leasing and managing large shopping centers. “The strengths of the ECE group are its high-quality architecture, the careful selection of tenants, and an active management concept for the shopping malls”, says Plamen Iltchev, managing director of ECE in Bulgaria. “Considering that ECE always enters engagements on a long-term basis, we work very thoroughly on the concept to ensure that even in 20 or 30 years, the center will still compete successfully on the market.”

Sparkassen Immobilien AG is represented and managed in Bulgaria through Immorent Bulgaria, a 100 % subsidiary of Erste Bank group. “We are very glad that Sparkassen Immobilien AG and ECE Projektmanagement are joining for the development and realization of this project in Bulgaria and we are going to support the project with our indepth know how and experience on the local real estate market”, states Iliana Schmatelka, general manager of Immorent Bulgaria.
Details about:
Sparkassen Immobilien AG

Sparkassen Immobilien AG is the real-estate investment company of Erste Bank group. It persues a long-term and sustainable investment strategy and the portfolio covers a broad range of office, residential and retail space as well as hotels in top locations. The well-balanced portfolio of around 900.000 square meters currently includes properties in Austria, Germany, the Czech Republic, Croatia, Hungary, Slovakia, and Romania. At present, the real-estate portfolio comprises 75 properties with EUR 1.1 billion property volume.
ECE

The Hamburg based ECE group has been developing, planning, constructing, leasing and managing large shopping centers since 1965. With 90 shopping centers under management at present, ECE is the European market leader in this field. In all centers located in Germany, Poland, Hungary, Turkey, Greece, the Czech Republic, Austria and Qatar, about 9 200 retail businesses generate 10.4 billion Euro in annual sales on an overall sales area of 2.7 million square meters. Another 22 shopping centers are currently under construction or in the planning stage throughout Europe. ECE has been awarded numerous international architecture prizes for its malls.

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