Cocor Store located in downtown Bucharest is up for sale to whomever is willing to pay 20 million euros for it, said Aurel Besliu, chairman of Cocor SA Company, the owner of the store.
The complex takes up 12,000 sqm, while the total surface that can be rented is of about 8-9,000 sqm, therefore the price Cocor is asking is higher than 2,000 euros/sqm.
Real estate analysts feel the price is too high. “The supply of land for commercial spaces in the downtown area is very limited and sometimes investors consider old buildings that can be taken down to reclaim the land. However, they want to recover the money in 6 or 7 years, which this price would not allow,” Monica Barbu, analyst with Colliers International real estate company says.
As a comparison, the second mall of the FIBA Group, to provide 37,000 sqm in total rentable space requires about 35 million euros in investments.
On the other hand, Besliu said the company was not planning to sell the store any time soon, “but everything comes with a price tag and whoever comes up with 20 million euros, no more, no less, can have the Cocor Complex.”
The company has devised a plan to refurbish the complex, which entails 4 million euro investments. The works are due to start in two or three months and result in expanding the total space available on each floor, in adding two outer lifts and an extra floor, among others, according to Besliu.
He added the investments would be mostly covered by the company’s own resources. “We made 50bn ROL (1.3 million euros i.e.) profit in May alone and I think we’ll have exceeded the full-year estimates (60bn ROL) by the end of the first half,” Besliu said.
bogdan.neagu@zf.ro