Thus, 2010 could be the first year to register a negative stock of commercial spaces, with no deliveries and closed units. The suspension of activities in Armonia Center mall in the eastern Romanian city of Braila has raised concerns among people in the real estate sector regarding the future of similar shopping centers.
“Next year, deliveries will be negative, meaning that malls will be closed and no new ones will be launched. At least in secondary towns, such as Suceava and Bacau, there will be no new openings for five years, until developers will have some clear calculations indicating profitability,” the General Manager of the German ECE Projektmanagement shopping center developer, Radu Merica, said.
According to the official, works can be initiated in 2009 only at “retail box” commercial projects, whose construction lasts some nine months, but, so far, no new works were initiated. There are 15 projects on the list with projects announced to be finalized in 2010, drafted by DTZ Echinox, but many of the developers of these centers announced their intention to put the ongoing projects on hold.
