In its first ever Indian investment, the Plaza Centers Group has appointed Pioneer Property Zone (PPZ), shopping mall developer and manager, for their upcoming mall Koregaon Park Plaza in Pune, India. Property Zone will implement strategies and look after financial management of the mall for growing the asset performance.
The Plaza Centers Group is touted as an emerging markets developer of shopping and entertainment centres. It has developed and let out around 30 shopping and entertainment centres across the globe. The group is present in countries like Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic, Greece, Romania, Latvia, Serbia, and Bulgaria.
Commenting on the appointment, Ashwin Puri, CEO, Pioneer Property Zone, said: “We are extremely happy to work with a global player like Plaza Centers Group. Koregaon Park is a well-known and premium destination in Pune and we strongly believe that Koregaon Park Plaza has potential to be amongst the leading malls in the country.”
The mall is partially operational with some walk-ins and 80 percent leased out; however, a formal launch is being planned around October 2012 by when the mall is likely to be fully occupied.
“We were keen to bring a team on board that understood retail from an international perspective and at the same time was close to the ground realities and local Indian requirements” mentioned Yossi Ofir, CEO Plaza Centre Group on the appointment of PPZ.
Pioneer Property Zone offers property solutions ranging from investment advisory, design development, leasing, lease management, and asset management. The company has developed over 15 million sq.ft. of retail space pan India. It has four retail malls under management with over 500 retailers. The company will also open malls over the next few years including Vega City scheduled to be operational in October 2012. The company was set up in late 2004 as a joint venture between ICS Realty (a 100 percent owned subsidiary of ICS Group) and Old Mutual Property (a 100 percent owned subsidiary of the London-listed insurance firm Old Mutual Plc).
