French retailer Carrefour will anchor AFI’s new mall in Brasov

French retailer Carrefour will anchor the AFI Brasov commercial center after it leased 6,500 sqm on the mall’s ground floor. AFI Brasov is developed by AFI Europe, one of the largest real estate investors active in Romania. AFI Europe has already developed two malls in Romania, namely AFI Palace Cotroceni in Bucharest, featuring 81,000 sqm of leasable space and an Auchan hypermarket, and AFI Ploiesti, with 34,000 sqm of leasable space and a Cora hypermarket. AFI Brasov is the developer’s third retail project in the country. It has 45,000 sqm leasable space for retail and 25,000 sqm for offices. The project is in its construction phase and the opening is planned for 2018. With a mix of international premium and mass-market fashion brands, services and entertainment options, the Brasov commercial center will stand on two levels. The first floor will host the food court and the interactive area, while the second floor will accommodate the entertainment area and a cinema. A large terrace offering views of the Carpathian Mountains is another draw of the mall. The project will be built according to the LEED Gold “green” buildings standard, the developers announced. “We are getting close to finalizing the mix of tenants that will complete the shopping experience of Brasov inhabitants and of the 1.6 million tourists that visit the area yearly,” David Hay, CEO of AFI Europe Romania, said. AFI's main competitor in Brasov is the Coresi Shopping Resort, opened in March 2015. The mall was developed by French group Immochan, the real estate arm of French retail group Auchan, with a EUR 60 million investment. AFI hasn't announced the value of its investment in Brasov. AFI Europe has been present in Romania since 2005. It developed and runs AFI Cotroceni, the largest mall in Romania and one the largest in CEE. The Cotroceni shopping center has more than 300 stores of local and international brands, visited by an average of 50,000 clients daily, the developer says. In October 2013, it opened AFI Ploiesti with a EUR 50 million investment. The Ploiesti mall has 100 stores and an entertainment area of 7,000 sqm. At the end of 2016, AFI Europe said that the five office buildings it developed next to the AFI Palace Cotroceni mall in Bucharest would be sold simultaneously by Africa Israel Investments, a company that is controlled by the Israeli investor Lev Leviev. Romanian investors Dragos and Adrian Paval, the owners of the DIY retailer Dedeman, are interested in buying the five buildings. Last year, AFI Europe started the construction works at the office project AFI Tech Park, located near the Marriott Hotel in Bucharest. The project will provide 50,000 sqm worth of work space, and will be completed in the next 2-3 years. The developer also plans to start a new mixed project in Northern Bucharest and another mall in Arad. Carrefour is one of the biggest retailers in Romania. The group has 290 stores, 32 of which are Carrefour hypermarkets. The French group also took over the Billa supermarket chain.