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Shopping Centers Today -> November 2007
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RETAIL HELPS REJUVENATE SERBIAN CAPITAL
The people of Belgrade, who so recently have begun to enjoy the right to vote, are celebrating a growing freedom of choice when it comes to shopping. The pro-West government has helped provide Serbia’s 2 million people a stable environment, a stronger economy and a rise in disposable income.
There is a strong international brand awareness among the people of Belgrade, stimulated by the arrival of such retailers as Marks & Spencer, German apparel retailer New Yorker and Zara, says Nina Radovic, a research analyst at Cushman & Wakefield.
Serbia’s shopping center history began in December 2002, when Slovenian grocery chain Mercator opened a hypermarket anchor in the 52,400-square-meter (563,900 square feet) Mercator Centre, New Belgrade (a municipality within the city proper), alongside 50 other shops. Two more shopping centers are due to open in Belgrade over the next 12 months.
As these developments reach completion, competition for land elsewhere in Belgrade is heating up, says Goran Kuridza, general manager of EFG Property Services, a Belgrade-based real estate consulting firm.
“International investors and developers are realizing Belgrade’s huge potential,” said Kuridza. “Foreign brands have been trying to enter the market for years, but with retail sites on Knez Mihailova [Belgrade’s main pedestrian street] commanding rents of up to €150 to €180 per square meter, many have waited for the new shopping centers.” Kuridza estimates that shopping center rents will probably run as high as €70 ($98) or €80 per square meter on average.
Sinisa Brasanac, CEO of Belgrade-based MPC Properties, the country’s leading real estate developer, lists some of the difficulties of trying to establish a presence in Belgrade, though he seems cautiously optimistic. “The country still suffers from inefficient bureaucracy, and developers must wait for building permits,” he said. “The city’s urban infrastructure is poor, but the government is working hard to improve this and keen to welcome international inward investment, so the situation is improving.”
In any case, developers are forging ahead, many making their first investments in the country. Plaza Centers, a shopping center development firm with offices throughout Central and Eastern Europe that has never invested in the country before, plans to build a €150 million shopping, entertainment and business center on a 100,000-square-meter site in Belgrade. For freedom of choice, Belgrade’s citizens are learning fast, it’s hard to beat a mall.
BU
ILDING BLOCK
Mace, an international management and construction company based in London, is the builder of Delta City Blok 67, one of the centers due to open next year. The mall, which Mace describes as a “virtual city,” will offer 30,000 square meters (323,000 square feet) of gross leasable area, plus a supermarket, a post office and a multiplex cinema. In addition, the center will contain Belgrade’s first professional bowling lanes, a playground, a gym and some restaurants and cafés. Each component will be easily accessible from the multistory car park.
march of the malls
Malls are cropping up throughout Belgrade. Next year MPC Properties plans to open the Ušce shopping center. The 130,000-square-meter (1.4 million square feet) shopping center, built on the former site of the Socialist Party headquarters, will contain a 4,800-square-meter supermarket, several anchor stores (fashion, white goods, sports and multimedia) and an eight-screen multiplex and food court. Ušce is a mere 10 minutes from Knez Mihailova, where international retail brands are already well established. MPC says the Ušce center will draw even more international retailers to Serbia while providing a platform for local retailers, all of which will attract up to 50,000 visitors a day.
 | Current Issue October 2008 |