Owners of Veranda mall in Bucharest consider selling it in two years, focus on logistics

Romanian investors Florin and Andrei Pogonaru are considering selling their Veranda shopping mall in Bucharest’s Obor area and shift to the logistics sector with a project located near the P3 Bucharest logistics park west of the capital, Profit.ro reported.

Veranda mall opened in 2016, on the land of the former Prodplast plastics factory, after a EUR 60 million investment.

The mall is currently undergoing a EUR 10 million expansion, which will increase its leasable area by 6,000 sqm, to 35,000 sqm. A new multiplex cinema will be opened as part of this expansion, which will be completed in December.

The Pogonaru family plans to sell the mall in two years, after its business stabilizes. The yields seen in the retail segment of the real estate market, 6%-7% per year, result in a recovery period of about 14 years - while the physical retail market undergoes unpredictable developments under the pressure of online commerce, argued Veranda manager Andrei Pogonaru.

Meanwhile, the investors prepare to start a logistics park in western Bucharest, which will include 70,000 sqm of warehouse space and will require an investment of EUR 10 million.

The intention is to start construction in the first part of next year and the developer has already started discussions with large tenants for an area of​ about 50,000 sqm.

“The orientation towards logistics came from the market trend, but we are not raising money [to put it into the project]. We are rather investing the money of the family, or of the companies in which we are shareholders," said Andrei Pogonaru, in an interview with Profit.ro.

(Photo courtesy of Veranda Shopping Mall)