Panico Panayi (in picture), a British investor of Greek origins plans to build the biggest shopping mall in Romania and in Europe, a regional retail center on some 190,000 sqm in the Chitila area, North of Bucharest. The project, called Colosseum, should be finalized in 2016, following investments of EUR 350 million. Panayi also owns land for a residential project in Bucharest, in the Sabareni area, where he wants to build an integrated village which could host up to 70,000 people. “Our master plan has been created by the same architecture firm that works with Prince Charles,” said Panayi in a press conference earlier today. This concept is similar to what Prince Charles has been trying to do in Romania, staying away from the modern city design and going back to a village-type of project, Panayi also said.

The investor, who is based in Machester, also has a wine business in Cyprus and has been investing in his leisure business across UK – restaurants, pubs and Bingo places. In 2003, he started buying land in Bucharest, and within 18 months he managed to buy the 62-hectare plot northern Bucharest, from 57 different land owners. In total, Panayi has so far invested around EUR 39 million of his own funds through Nova Imobiliare, the real estate developing company that he owns on the Romanian market, with additional funding coming from two bank loans from the Bank of Cyprus.

The land is currently the construction site for the first Leroy Merlin do-it-yourself store, which should be opened in August this year. A new Carrefour unit, on some 8,000 sqm, will also join, with the opening scheduled for mid-October this year. The retail park, which will also include an Altex unit and a Domo unit, will cover some 53,000 sqm in total.

A second stage of the project will be the shopping mall, which will cover some 137,000 sqm in total and which is scheduled for opening in 2013. A first phase of the mall will have 60,000 sqm. This entire project is meant to be a regional shopping center. It will have 10,000 parking places, while the Chitila street will be expanded with two more lanes and two underground passages. The investor's aim is to have the retail center included among the top five best shopping destinations in Europe.

While the retail project is under construction, Panayi has nothing yet lined up for the plot where he has planned the residential project, saying it is not yet the time for investments in residential.

While he expects consumption in Europe to get back to better times in 2014, Panayi said his timing to buy land in Romania was a good one, but the project had to face a setback due to legislative changes and beaurocracy. “We didn't expect to spend six extra years, although we came at the right time to buy land in Romania,” Panayi concluded.

Corina Saceanu, corina@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: Main picture and Colosseum entry- courtesy of Nova Imobiliare; Leroy Merlin picture - copyright Corina Saceanu, romania-insider.com)