Plaza Centers wants to remove residential component from contract with Romanian state over unfinished Radio House mixed project

Eight years after signing the public – private partnership with the Romanian state for the Radio House/Dambovita Center mixed real estate project in Bucharest, Israeli developer Plaza Centers wants to change some terms of the initial contract, so as to comply with the new zoning permits. The change concerns removing the residential component of the planned mixed project, as the Zonal Urban Plan PUZ received for the project does not include a residential component, according to Mediafax newswire. The contract signed by Plaza Centers and the Romanian state for the project yet in the planning stage features offices, retail, hotels and residential, but demand for residential has been decreasing, according to Plaza Centers representatives quoted by Mediafax. The real estate developer which entered judiciary reorganization this year, owns 75 percent of the mixed project, and the state controls the rest. The project at stake, the Radio House project, to be developed on the premises of an existing, unused structure, should have 550,000 sqm in built area, out of which 76,000 sqm covered by a shopping mall. Offices, an apart – hotel, a hotel and a conference center should also be included. The latest available estimations pointed for 2016 – 2017 for finishing the first stage of the project. Investments on this project stopped in 2009, after partial demolitions and other work on site. editor@romania-insider.com