Anchor Grup expands Plaza Romania

The Plaza Romania shopping centre in Bucharest is set to expand by over 6,000 square metres by the building of an additional floor on top of the G’market store, with the overall surface area of the mall to exceed 47,000 square metres. Plaza Romania is held and managed by Anchor Grup, which also holds the Bucuresti Mall, the Anchor Plaza office building and the InCity Residences residential complex in Bucharest. In addition to expanding the commercial area, Plaza Romania will also be renovated, with the cumulated investment to amount to around 10 million euros, according to company representatives. The project will be funded from the company’s own resources. Another alteration will be a reduction in the size of the G’market store by around 1,000 square metres, however, the commercial area will not be affected. G’market’s reduction in size will allow for a new, large store to be introduced, potentially for a fashion retailer, whilst the location of some other stores could changed, as well. “The expansion will see the store mix improve, with over 30 new stores to be added,” said Ibrahim Paksoy, CEO of Anchor Grup. The 30 new stores will cover over 10,000 square metres of the almost 42,000 square-metre of lettable space that the mall will have after the expansion is completed. Anchor Grup has announced that the mall’s renovation will be completed this year, with expansion works to end in early 2009, and that the mall’s operation would not be affected since works will be conducted mainly at night.