Sonae Sierra and Caelum Development to develop €700 mln mall in Bucharest

The two companies have set up a joint venture, each with a 50 percent stake, to develop the new mall, set to be the country’s largest. The commercial center will have a leasing area of 110,000 square meters, on five levels, and is scheduled to open in April 2011.

The new project will have 443 stores and a 3,300 space underground parking lot. The mall will house a Cora hypermarket and a Cinema City multiplex, with 14 movie theaters.

Sonae Sierra entered the Romanian market by acquiring the River Plaza mall in the city of Ramnicu Valcea, finalized in November 2006. The company is currently developing two new commercial centers in the cities of Craiova and Ploiesti, with a total investment worth €293 million. Caelum Development has no other operations on the local market.