Investment in the mountains, party in the capital

Many of the Romanian retail market’s leading figures gathered at Bucharest’s Radisson SAS hotel to meet, mix and find out more about Echo Investment’s Korona shopping and leisure centre in the mountain city of Braşov

Things may not be easy in Romania’s political and economic world at the moment, but you wouldn’t have known it at the Eurobuild CEE Pre-MAPIC Business Mixer, which brought together not only retailers and retail experts, but also senior figures from the wider business spectrum. The focus was Echo Investment’s 53,000 sqm (GLA) Korona shopping and leisure centre which, on completion, will house 240 stores including a hypermarket, a bowling centre and a multiplex cinema. After welcome comments from Mirosław Cieślik, first counsellor of the Polish Embassy in Romania, who emphasized the strong trade links between Poland and Romania, Mariusz Kowalczyk, leasing team director of Echo’s shopping centre projects department, talked about the strength of the location and the tenants so far signed, and highlighted Echo Investment’s confidence in Romania and in their project. Next, financing department director Grzegorz Iwański underlined the fact that the company in Poland had secured financing worth just under EUR 200 mln in three separate deals in recent months, a rare occurrence in today’s market and one which emphasizes the company’s strong position. After leasing manager Tomasz Domoń thanked the project’s leasing agent Jones Lang LaSalle and the tenants for their commitment, and encouraged retailers to engage with the project, Agnieszka Kozdęba, design manager at Echo Investment, and Şerban Ţigănaş of Dico si Tiganas, one of the two architectural firms which designed Korona (the other being Polish architectural studio IMB Asymetria), presented the project, which is located in the very heart of the city. To close the presentations a film about the centre was shown for the first time and clearly showed off the historic beauty of Braşov and its surrounding area. ν