FairPlay Properties to launch two projects in Sofia
18 January 2008
Local real estate investment trust FairPlay Properties, a unit of property developer FairPlay International, said it plans to build a mixed-use residential, retail and office scheme in South-eastern Sofia.
The REIT is also making progress on a second scheme of the same type in the vicinity. The two announced developments will be the company's first investments in the Bulgarian capital.
FairPlay Properties said it has signed a preliminary agreement for the purchase of 1.1 ha of land in the Studentski Grad housing district. The site will accommodate a development with a built-up area of 30,000 sq m. The acquisition price is 5.7 mln euro. The transaction should be finalised in late March.
FairPlay Properties executive director Manyu Moravenov said off-plan sales should get underway this spring. The company is also in talks to buy 5.0 ha of land near the Sofia ring road. It will seek to add a further 5.0 ha of adjacent land for the development of a residential complex.
The two Sofia developments will be initially financed with the capital hike proceeds of the REIT and then with debt financing. The company plans to raise capital from 50.7 mln to 60.84 mln levs, generating 22.8 mln levs in fresh cash.
Allocations will also be made form the cap hike proceeds for the construction of a balneological center near Sapareva Bania, Western Bulgaria where the company has already bought 63,000 sq m of land. The 50 mln lev project is scheduled for completion in 2010.