Local investor Ovidiu Budeanu has bought 4.7 hectares of land for EUR 7 million and plans to double the surface of his Arena Mall shopping center in Bacau to 50,000 square meters (sqm), more than the 60% expansion he was planning last year, local Profit.ro reported.

The cost of the proposed development rose proportionally to EUR 30 million, compared to the initial plan of EUR 20 million.

The Arena Mall was built on a piece of land previously owned by the Cotidian Bacau shoe factory (formerly Partizanul), taken over by Budeanu. The complex was inaugurated in 2007 with an initial area of​ 19,000 sqm, later expanded to 24,600 sqm.

In 2017, Budeanu paid about EUR 1.4 million to Spanish company Fadesa for a 14,000 sqm plot adjacent to the mall, envisaging 60% expansion. This year, he acquired an additional area of ​​47,000 sqm from Fadesa, for which he paid about EUR 7 million. Budeanu will sell about 8,800 sqm to Dan Ostahie, who owns Altex electronics retail chain and will build a Media Galaxy store of 4,000 square meters next to the shopping center.

Ovidiu Budeanu plans to list the company on the Bucharest Stock Exchange to draw part of the EUR 30 mln financing needed to expand the mall. Arena Mall had revenues of EUR 6.2 million in 2018.

editor@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: Arenamall.ro)