Swedish fashion retailer H&M (Hennes&Mauritz) is currently negotiating its entry in the ParkLake Plaza shopping center project, which would host the retailer's first store in Romania, according to Cushman & Wakefield, which is dealing with the leasing of spaces in the project, quoted by Mediafax newswire. “We are negotiating with H&M for ParkLake project. They liked the project but nothing was signed yet, however companies like these don't just throw words in the wind,” said Razvan Gheorghe, head of Cushman & Wakefield, quoted by Mediafax.

This is not the first time H&M is negotiating its market entry in Romania, according to previous media reports. Previous articles pointed to alleged negotiations with Anchor Group, which owns Bucuresti Mall and Plaza Romania shopping centers.

ParkLake Plaza will be developed on the premises of the former sports camp Spartac in IOR park in Bucharest, the Titan neighborhood. The two companies which develop the project, Irish Caelum Development and Portugues Sonae Sierra said the project will require a EUR 600 million investment.

The project should feature a shopping centers with a leasable area of 110,000 sqm and 3,000 parking places. However, according to Cushman & Wakefield, the project was slightly changed and only 80,000 sqm of leasable area will be built.

The developers are currently negotiating over the bank financing needed to start the project, which has been 40 percent rented out to Cora hypermarket chain.