Canadian real estate developer Benevo will start the construction of Victoria City shopping center in Romania’s capital in the first half of 2014, according to Michael Topolinski (in picture), the company’s founder.

The new shopping center will be built on the premises of the former Textile Dacia factory in the Bucurestii Noi neighborhood, in NW Bucharest.

“By the end of the year, Victoria City will be 70 percent leased, we will have the building permit in the coming weeks and we want to start construction works early next year. We will build a leasable area of 36,000 sqm,” said Topolinski, quoted by Romanian news agency Mediafax.

In the second phase of the project, the company will develop an office tower next to the shopping center. The tower will have a leasable area of 15,000 sqm and 11 floors.

“We will complete the construction of the shopping center in the first quarter of 2015 and then we’ll start the development of the office building,” added Michael Topolinski.

Victoria City will have 1,300 parking places and so far Benevo has signed leases with Cora, H&M, C&A, Inditex, Deichmann, CCC, Takko, Mango, Koton, and Cinema Grand.

The Canadian company has been active on the Romanian market since 2007.

In September this year, the company took over pump manufacturer Aversa, acquiring its business, factory and 10 hectares in Bucharest, for EUR 17.3 million, while last year it purchased Vulcan Retail Park in Bucharest, with EUR 21.6 million.

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