In Györ, one of the most picturesque and dynamic cities in Hungary, ECE is building an inner-city shopping gallery. At the laying of the cornerstone ceremony on 9 November 2005, József Balogh, the Mayor of Györ, and ECE manager Guyla Gyalay-Korpos gave the starting signal for the construction of the Árkád Györ.
The centrally located, modern shopping gallery boasting 125 shops on 35,000 m² of sales space is scheduled to open in as little as a year. An impressive rental status clearly demonstrates the fact that retail traders are convinced of the Árkád Györ concept: 85 % of the sales space has already been leased. The project partners for the investment worth 100 million are Real I.S. and the ECE group. Real I.S. will contribute the property to a closed-end real-estate fund named Bayernfonds, thus allowing German private investors to benefit of the region's rapid growth early on. ECE holds the overall responsibility for the project development, general planning, leasing, and long-term management of the gallery.
Györ, the capital of the administrative county (Comitatus) of Györ-Moson-Sopron, is both economic and cultural center of the region at the Hungary-Austria-Slovakia border triangle. Thanks to favorable business-location policies, internationally renowned companies like Audi or Philips have established large plants in Györ thus contributing to its develop-ment as the economically strongest provincial town in Hungary.
The Árkád Györ project will create around 1,000 new jobs in the town and region. The main leasing contracts have already been concluded with a large Interspar food market, the sports shop Hervis and the con-sumer electronics store Media Markt. Negotiations with a large fashion store are nearly finalized. Aside from these large-scale businesses, many well-known local and international brands will be represented, such as: Douglas, Esprit, S. Oliver, Orsay, Promod, the drugstores dm and Rossmann, and the Hungarian retailers Jeans Club and Humanic.
"Not only will the Árkád Györ draw exiting new shops to Györ, but it is also bound to become a new meeting point for families and friends", says Gyula Gyalay-Korpos, manager of ECE Projektmanagement Budapest. The many cafés, restaurants and a large food court offering Hungarian and international delicacies will provide the right atmosphere for social encounters.
The Árkád Györ, with a selling space of around 35,000 square meters, will be one of the largest retailing complexes in the town of Györ. Thanks to its strong industry, in Hungary, only the capital Budapest exceeds Györ in terms of economic force", Andreas Heibrock, member of the management of Real I.S. affirms with enthusiasm. The Árkád will be easily accessible by car and public transportation. About 1,150 parking spaces will be available to customers, and several bus routes pass di-rectly in front of the building. Around 490,000 inhabitants live in the trading area of the gallery and around 162,000 people are within 15 minutes reach of the Árkád.
The project partners
Real I.S. and the ECE group are the project partners for the 100-million-Euro investment.
ECE Projektmanagement Budapest Kft. is responsible for the project development, general planning, leasing and long-term management of the gallery. ECE already operates two very successful shopping centers in Hungary: the Árkád Örs vezér tere in Budapest and the Árkád Pécs.
Source: ECE
