Romanian real estate developer Iulius Group, owned by local investor Iulian Dascalu, and Atterbury Europe, officially opened on Friday, August 30, the Iulius Town mixed-use project in Timisoara, the largest investment in the region, adding up to a total of EUR 442 million. Iulius Town was developed around Iulius Mall Timisoara, integrating it into an extensive urban regeneration project, and completing it with new retail, office, and entertainment facilities.

The investment in this project to this date, including Iulius Mall Timisoara (opened in 2005), amounted to EUR 327 million. Another EUR 115 million is directed towards developing the tallest office building in Romania, currently under construction. The project’s total built area will reach 443,000 sqm, after the completion of the last office building.

Iulius Town is the first mixed-use project developed in the west of Romania and the second in the Iulius Group’s portfolio after Palas Iasi. The project aims to draw clients from the whole Banat region as well as from neighboring countries, Serbia and Hungary.

“In 2005, when we were opening Iulius Mall Timisoara, we knew we were not going to stop here, and our clients have confirmed this expectation. Iulius Mall has rapidly integrated into the life of a target audience that extended across the country borders and compelled the continued development of the project at a much larger scale. Iulius Town is now the city within a city, a mixed-use project that generates added value for the community and for the entire area. Together with our partner, Atterbury Europe company, we have developed a regional business hub that feeds into the economic development, as well as a cosmopolitan shopping and leisure venue that is unique in Romania,” said Iulian Dascălu, president of Iulius Group.

“In June 2017 we entered into a 50/50 joint venture with Iulius to accelerate the rapid development pace of Iulius Town Timişoara, among other projects. Our partnership is delivering powerful results as can be seen in the infinitely impressive first phase of the mixed-use retail, entertainment, and office development,” said Henk Deist, CEO of Atterbury Europe.

Located in downtown Timișoara, Iulius Town is the greatest real estate project to open in Romania this year. The project has set several records: the largest retail area outside of Bucharest (120,000 sqm, 450 stores) and the largest offer of class A office premises in the region (more than 100,000 sqm).

The expansion of Iulis Mall has made room for new retailers such as Zara Home, Oysho, Peek & Cloppenburg, Liu Jo, Intimissimi, Marks & Spencer, Distinctive multibrand - A | X Armani Exchange, Napapijri and Pepe Jeans London, Superdry & New Era, Next (kids), Sizeer, Grid, Primigi, Teilor Fine Jewellery, Beautik Haute Parfumerie, and Meli Melo Deco.

The offer will be completed with an expansion of World Class, which is opening the largest fitness center in Romania with a semi-Olympic swimming pool. Cinema City will also open a multiplex movie theater expanded up to 12 auditoriums and it will also implement for the first time outside of Bucharest the VIP cinema concept.

The annual estimated footfall for Iulius Town is more than 20 million visitors.

One of the project’s main attractions is the park, which entailed a total investment of EUR 8.7 million. Iulius Gardens was designed by a team of specialists from Italy, Germany, and Romania. The park also includes a lake spanning on 800 sqm, a double-decker Venetian carousel for children, a gazebo, promenades, and squares for outdoor events and fairs.

Iulius Town also comprises a state-of-the-art conference center, with three halls and a capacity up to 1,000 persons, that will accommodate both business and private events.

The first kindergarten in Timisoara taught in English and following a British curriculum, as well as a primary school will open in this project on September 9.

The first phase of development of Iulius Town includes more than 100,000 sqm of office premises that will accommodate approximately 13,000 employees. The first three office buildings are in operation (50,000 sqm leasable area), with tenants including multinational IT, automotive and customer support companies. The fourth office building, currently under construction, will also be the tallest building in Romania. United Business Center 0 (155 m height, 27 floors) will include 52,000 sqm of leasable office premises, a medical hub spanning on 3,000 sqm, restaurants, stores, and a conference center.

Iulius Town also entailed significant investments in infrastructure, adding up to a total of EUR 13 million. The streets in the vicinity of the project were widened and upgraded, while a traffic underpass with two lanes per direction and cutting across the project helps streamline the traffic in the area. All these investments were or are going to be donated to the municipality.

Another EUR 40.7 million was invested in creating new parking spaces in a multilevel parking facility and an underground parking lot, with a total number of available spaces upwards of 4,000. These are completed with 800 bike parking racks across the entire project.

editor@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: courtesy of the company)