The Biggest Mall Ever Opens in Romania

28 Oct 2004 • 00:00

ECONOMICS - October 28th 2004

Plaza, the biggest mall in Romania, was inaugurated yesterday and will open for the public on Friday. It is located in Bucharest, at the cross-road of Timisoara Boulevard and Lujerului passage, close to two of the most crowded neighborhoods in the capital city: Drumul Taberei and Militari.

The Plaza Mall was developed with a 45 million euros investment by the Anchor Group, which also developed the first mall in Bucharest.

Only this one is twice as big as the one in Vitan neighborhood, developed on over 100,000 square meters and five stories. It offers a mix of shops, services, restaurants, cafes, supermarket, casino, amusement center and fitness center, plus a parking lot fro 2,400 cars.
Ali Ergun Ergen, the general manager of Anchor Group, said that over 90% of the mall was already rented to businesses with no intermediary real-estate agencies, which shows the high interest companies have for the new location.

The Plaza Mall will also house the biggest cinema in Romania. It will be called Movieplex and will use high technology, like foyer screens and Internet access for viewers waiting for the opening hour of the films. It will also have a VIP Executive Lounge, where opening nights will take place. The investment in the Movieplex was 3.8 million euros. The Plaza Mall also includes 2,000 square meters of shopping area managed by Azali Trading and will host the Zara Shop, to open at the end of 2004.

Officials [also on electoral campaigning] were present at the official opening of the mall: PM Adrian Nastase, foreign affairs minister Mircea Geoana, the minister for economy and commerce Dan Ioan Popescu, the minister for finance Mihai Tanasescu and Bucharest mayor, Traian Basescu.
Nastase said that the new shopping mall is proof Romania is an interesting location for investments higher than 50 million dollars.
While Basescu said the City Hall granted 2.8 hectares of land for the project.