Turkish developer to invest $260 mln in Sofia project

SOFIA - Reuters

Turkish developer Garanti Koza will build a 240 million euros ($260 million) commercial and residential complex in Sofia, one of the biggest private-sector property projects in Bulgaria, the company said on July 21.

The Black Sea state needs foreign investment to spur growth and help reduce fiscal deficits that have put pressure on its lev currency peg to the euro.

The project, dubbed the Grand Canyon, will spread across 43,000 square meters in the Mladost district of the capital and will include residential towers, a shopping mall and an entertainment park. It will be completed in early 2018.

The Turkish company said it plans to soon launch a second real estate project in downtown Sofia.

“It will be situated in the Sofia center and it will be four times bigger in terms of scale and investment,” said Erden Bilginer, a member of Garanti Koza’s board of directors.

The projects signal a return of investment in real estate in the Balkan county, whose economy had been expanding by between 6 and 7 percent a year due to investment in financial services and property until 2009, when it was hit by the global financial crisis.