The FINANCIAL -- 2011-08-31 -- The commercial real estate market stagnated during the
first half of 2011.During the first half of the current year, only one
major retail centre, the 5,600 m2 Europeum located on Blaha Lujza
Square, was opened.
The project is considered successful so far, as it has reached an 80% occupancy rate in its first months. Major tenants are H&M, Muller and Deichmann. The project can be classified as more of a high-street venue than a shopping centre.
In October, ORCO will open the first three floors of its emblematic GLA development, with 11,000 m2 of retail area, hosting tenants like Hard Rock Cafe, Szamos Marcipan, Pinko and Vilebrequin. In the second phase, to be completed by autumn 2012, the upper floors of the building will be opened, including a lounge on the rooftop and a special tourist attraction occupying the entire 1,700 m2 fourth floor.
KOKI Terminal (55,000 m2), Arkad Szeged (34,000 m2) and Siofok Plaza (6,000 m2) are planned to open by the end of the year.
The two most popular shopping streets in Budapest, Vaci and Andrassy Streets, are still highly popular, especially among luxury retail brands.
As far as the rental fees are concerned, they are 10-30% lower in general than in the previous year; however, they vary depending on the location, in some cases reaching the pre-crisis level.
The development of new shopping centres is expected to be launched only in the 2013-2015 period. During the next two years, Colliers expects that major developers will seek to refurbish former retail centres, offering them a new design and developing a new concept to attract tenants. A representative example of such a project is the former Material Center, in downtown Budapest, which is to be converted to an outlet store inside the city centre. The name of the project is Grand Fashion Outlet (GFO) and is scheduled to be completed in the spring of 2012.
www.ceeretail.com
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