AFI Palace Ploiesti shopping mall, developed by AFI Europe, was opened earlier this week, 16 months after its construction started and following an investment of over EUR 50 million.

The project was financed by Raiffeisen Bank International AG (RBI) which provided a financing loan of over EUR 30 million, while the construction of the project was executed by the general contractor Danya Cebus Rom.

The shopping mall offers a total gross leasable area (GLA) of 33,000 sqm spreading over two retail floors. The mall also has a total of 1,000 parking places, of which, 300 are underground.

AFI Palace Ploiesti is leased almost completely, including fashion brands such as Koton, H&M, Reserved, Musette, TimeOut, Collins, Nike, Aldo, Otter and Lee Cooper. The project created more than 1,000 direct jobs for the Ploiesti work force.

Romanian IT&C retailer Flanco has also opened a new store in AFI Palace shopping mall in Ploiesti, following a total investment of some EUR 600,000, the company has announced.

The new store has a total area of 1,000 sqm and is located near the Cora hypermarket.

This is the 79th Flanco unit in the country and the retailer plans to reach a total of 82 stores by the end of 2013.

Sporting goods retailer Intersport also opened a 400 sqm in the new shopping mall in Ploiesti.

AFI Europe has operated in Romania since 2005. The company developed and operates AFI Palace Cotroceni shopping mall located in Bucharest and is currently developing AFI Park business complex.

The first building, AFI Park 1, with 12,200 sqm of gross leasable area, was finished on September 1, 2012 and its office space is fully leased.

Currently, AFI Europe Romania is developing AFI Park 2 and AFI Park 3, which will be delivered in April and November 2014 respectively.

Moreover, AFI Europe has other two retail projects to be developed in the near future, namely AFI Palace mall in Arad and AFI Palace B.Noi, a 36,000 sqm mall located in Bucurestii Noi.

Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com