The number of shopping centres in Cluj continues to expand at a dramatic rate, with at least three malls currently in various stages of development including the Polus Center Cluj, developed by TriGranit.
"Cluj will be able to absorb between 120,000 and 150,000 square metres of shopping centres. As far as I know, there are only two malls under construction (in Cluj), with a total lettable area of 90,000 square metres, and a third waiting to be developed with an area of around 30,000 square metres," says Arpad Torok, development manager of TriGranit.
A recent survey by Colliers real estate consultancy indicated Cluj as the other city, besides Bucharest, that will experience the strongest developments on the shopping centre market, with five such projects currently under development and the total availability of 200,000 square metres of lettable space.
At present, in Cluj, there are not any completed large-scale malls. Beside the project handled by TriGranit, the Iulius Group and Dawnay Day have also announced other plans for shopping centres in Cluj.
Were 250,000 square metres delivered on the market, only the strongest 2 or 3 projects would go on to become a success. So, the question is not how many square metres are on offer, but how many of the proposed projects will be adequate in terms of scale, tenants, product mix, accessibility and management expertise to become competitive," adds Torok.
Polus Center Cluj was sold at its project stage last year to the Immoeast Austrian investment fund in a deal worth 210m euros, the biggest on the domestic real estate market.
The second Romanian Polus shopping centre is currently under development in Constanta and has also been acquired by Immoeast, in a deal worth 185m euros.
"Most of the Cluj tenants were satisfied with our collaboration and as a result around 60-70% have, so far
