Signs of recovery as insolvent Romanian shopping center signs three new anchor tenants

The home decorations and furniture retailer from Denmark, JYSK, will open a store in the retail park, measuring 1000m². The other two new tenants, San Francisco outlet, a clothing store, and Stock House, a decorations store, will cover a space of 3500m².

The center lost some of its tenants over the past few years due to the economic crisis, but is showing some signs of recovery.  The shopping park covers an overall area of 105000m², offers a shopping space of 45000m², of which 13000m² is taken up by the retailer, Auchan.

Some of the other tenants in the center include fashion retailer C&A, electro-IT retailer Altex, furniture retailer Elvila, carpet store Progres and DIY retailer BauMax.  It offers visitors 1400 parking spaces.

The center boasts 3.8m annual visitors.  Its current managers are Resolute Lar Romania, a company that specializes in the management of distressed real estate assets.

Hello Shopping Park was first opened during 2008, after a €60m investment.  It was declared insolvent during July 2013, as it was unable to repay the loans it was liable for.  During 2013, the owner of the center, Bel Rom Cinci, reported a turnover of €3.56m, with losses of €1.1m.  Financial data released by the Finance Ministry indicated that the company had a debt balance of €47m as at the end of 2013.