• Galleria Stara Zagora opened at the beginning of November
• Anchor tenants include Zara, Reserved, New Yorker, Cinema City, Mercator Roda
• The mall attracted over 80,000 visitors in the first four days after the opening
On 11 November 2010 Globe Trade Centre S.A. (GTC) opened its first retail and entertainment centre in Bulgaria. Galleria Stara Zagora offers 25,000 sq m of retail area. The centre includes 130 shops and service points, a supermarket and a food court and leisure area, with a 7-screen multiplex cinema.
Galleria Stara Zagora is one of four GTC retail projects in Bulgaria. The centre was built in one of the most heavily populated districts of Stara Zagora, a city located in the central part of the country, on the route between Sofia and the Black Sea. Galleria Stara Zagora is the first state-of-the-art retail and entertainment centre in the region.
The opening celebration for the mall, with performances by the most popular stars from Bulgarian show business, attracted great interest. During the first four days in operation, the mall was visited by over 80,000 people – representing half of the population of the city of Stara Zagora.
The four levels of Galleria Stara Zagora have been rented out by well-known international and local brands like Zara, Bershka , Pull and Bear, Reserved, New Yorker, Deichmann, Drogerie Markt, Sprider, Nike, Mc Cafe & McDonald’s, Technomarket, Kenvelo, Fox, Paolo Botticelli and many more. Galleria offers a 3500 sqm supermarket – Roda, operated by Mercator. The leisure section of the mall offers the first in town Cinema City multiplex, Pure fitness club, playgrounds for children and a video game arcade.
The facility offers a total of over 800 parking places.
The shopping centre has been designed by the award-winning American architect firm LaguardaLow.
Construction of Galleria Stara Zagora was financed through a loan from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and Unicredit Bank.
GTC Bulgaria holds 75% stake in Galleria Stara Zagora.
In Bulgaria GTC is currently building three more malls under the Galleria brand, in Burgas, Ruse and Varna (total lease area about 115,000 sq m). Completion of these projects will have a major impact on development of the modern retail sector in the country, where the per capita level of modern retail space is currently among the lowest in Europe.
Construction of Galleria Burgas and Galleria Varna has already begun, and the project is scheduled for delivery in 2012.
GLOBE TRADE CENTRE S.A. (GTC S.A.) is one of the leading developers in the New Europe and was established in 1994 in Warsaw. Currently it operates in Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Romania, Serbia, Croatia, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Russia and Ukraine.
GTC develops projects and manages completed properties in three key sectors of real estate: office buildings and parks, retail and entertainment centers and residential sector.
GTC has developed about 800,000 sq m of net space and currently is the owner of completed commercial property with a combined net area of about 523,000 sq m. GTC also holds an impressive portfolio of investment at various stages of development which will facilitate the construction of 1.7 million sq m of commercial and residential space. GTC’s total assets exceed EUR 2.7 billion.
GTC’s shares are listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange on the prestigious WIG20 index. The company’s shares are also included in the international MSCI index and Dow Jones STOXX Eastern Europe 300 index, as well as the GPR250 index which comprises the 250 biggest and most liquid real estate companies of the world. Among GTC’s shareholders are many of the biggest Polish and international institutional investors.