Popeyes opens first restaurant in Cluj-Napoca, the second city in Romania where Popeyes is expanding its presence in 2025. The new restaurant is located in the food court area of the Sigma Center shopping center in Cluj-Napoca.
Popeyes launched in Romania three years ago, currently having a total of 14 restaurants, including seven restaurants in Bucharest and one each in Pitești, Craiova, Buzău, Ploiești, Brașov, Constanța and Iași.
The company currently owns 4,800 restaurants worldwide.
The company Square 7, part of M Core, announces the development of M Park Orăștie, a modern shopping center. Located next to the existing Kaufland, the new project is being developed on a 23,000 sqm plot of land acquired in April 2024. Construction works are already underway, and the opening is scheduled for November 2025. The project has an estimated built-up area of approximately 5,500 sqm.
Confirmed tenants include Agroland, Deichmann, Flanco, Kik, Pepco, Sinsay, Tedi and Xpress, along with other services and facilities.
“We are excited to expand the M Park network to Orăștie, a city with growing potential, where we believe that a modern and accessible shopping center will bring real value. We are developing a sustainable, long-term project,” said Brîndusa Grama, Head of Asset Management at Square 7, part of M Core.
Source: economica.net
Libra Internet Bank has granted Scala Development a RON 119 million financing for the Scala Sopor residential project developed in Cluj-Napoca. The collaboration between Libra and Scala Development, which began in 2017, reaches the third project supported by the bank.
The residential complex will include 376 apartments, 460 underground parking spaces and 2,500 square meters of green spaces, as well as commercial spaces with a total area of 4,100 square meters.
Scala Development has two completed residential real estate projects in its portfolio, with 310 apartments, three under construction, a shopping center, an industrial hall and several other real estate projects in various early stages.
Romanian entrepreneurial group Dedeman makes its first major DIY acquisition outside the country and buys Praktiker Hellas in Greece.
Dedeman has reached 2.5 billion euros in turnover in Romania.
Karina and Darius Pavăl, the children of one of the founders of Pavăl Holding, coordinated the takeover of the Praktiker Hellas network in Greece. This is the first time that they are directly involved in an international project of such magnitude and assume an active role in shaping the new regional development strategy.
“Karina identified the opportunity and led the negotiations, and Darius will have a key role in integrating and monitoring the business. I am proud to see them collaborate,” said Dragoş Pavăl, founder of Pavăl Holding.
Praktiker Hellas is a leader in the home and garden (DIY) products market in Greece, operating a network of 17 physical stores, an online store and a portfolio of over 50,000 products. The company has 1,200 employees nationwide.
Source: zf.ro
Crosspoint Real Estate, the International Associate of Savills in Romania, brokered office lease transactions totaling over 6,000 square meters in the first half of 2025. The deals were concluded with companies operating in the technology, military equipment manufacturing, construction and agricultural financing sectors. These contracts have brought the total value of the office leasing portfolio brokered by Crosspoint to over EUR 45 million.
“Our results for the first half of the year confirm Crosspoint’s strategy to strengthen its office division, and the leasing transactions we completed in the first six months of 2025 align with market trends in terms of the sectors generating the highest demand”, stated Valentin Neagu, Managing Director at Crosspoint Real Estate, a company celebrating its 20th anniversary in 2025.
Of the total area leased by Crosspoint Real Estate this year, two-thirds consist of office space in Bucharest leased by companies in tech, military equipment production, and agricultural finance – new entrants to the local market. This signals that Romania continues to be seen as a stable and attractive business environment. The remaining third refers to a transaction of over 2,000 sqm in Cluj-Napoca, where a technology company renewed its existing lease.
“In the first half of the year, we witnessed a rebound in interest from IT companies for office space. Whereas previously they were more conservative when it came to leasing larger spaces, we now see a clear trend toward expansion and development. This shift is also reflected in the increased physical presence at the office, another positive indicator that the market is regaining momentum and that confidence in economic prospects is strengthening”, said Mădălina Marinescu, Head of Office Agency at Crosspoint Real Estate.
At the national level, in the five major cities with developed office markets – Bucharest, Timisoara, Cluj-Napoca, Iasi, and Brasov – the total volume of leased office space in the first six months of the year was 145,360 square meters, down by 29.2% compared to the same period in 2024.
The capital remains the most important office market in Romania, but it also recorded the sharpest decline in demand. In the first six months of 2025, 111,753 square meters of office space were leased in Bucharest, representing 76.8% of the total transactions carried out in the country’s main business hubs, according to a report by Fortim Trusted Advisors, an alliance member of the BNP Paribas Real Estate.
“Timișoara is the only business hub where demand for office space increased in the first six months of this year compared to the same period in previous years. In the other major cities, including Bucharest, we’re seeing a decrease in leased spaces, amid political uncertainties in the first part of the year and the suspension of new office building deliveries. However, we expect leasing activity to recover in the second half of the year, with the announced deliveries of new spaces scheduled to begin at the end of 2025 and continue through 2027,” said Nicolae Ciobanu, Managing Partner – Head of Advisory at Fortim Trusted Advisors, an alliance member of the BNP Paribas Real Estate.
The biggest office market transaction in Romania during the first six months of the year was recorded in Bucharest, where BCR renewed its lease agreement for a space of 22,300 square meters in The Bridge building, located in the Orhideea–Grozăvești area.
In secondary cities, the most significant transaction was made by Vertiv Romania, which extended its lease for a 4,667-square-meter space in the Advancity Business Center in Cluj-Napoca.
As for new company relocations, the largest leased spaces in 2025 include 4,000 square meters occupied by Leroy Merlin in Floreasca Park in Bucharest and 3,000 square meters leased by Continental in Timișoara.
There is a noticeable gap between the areas associated with lease renegotiations and those involving new lease contracts, with renegotiations holding the upper hand—an indication that many companies prefer to consolidate their presence in existing locations given the current market context.
The space left vacant in the Bucharest shopping center AFI Cotroceni after the departure of fashion retailer C&A will be occupied by Lefties, Zara’s low-cost brand.
In October 2023, Inditex, the owner of Zara, entered Romania with the Lefties brand with the opening of the Promenada mall in Craiova. It later expanded to Suceava, Ploiești and Timișoara.
The recently closed C&A store was opened in 2009, with the brand’s entry into the local market and the launch of AFI Cotroceni, and had an area of over 3,200 square meters (ground floor and first floor).
Source: Profit.ro
Wendy’s opened its first and only restaurant in Prahova County, at Shopping City Ploiești.
“We are delighted to continue the development of Wendy’s in Romania together with NEPI Rockcastle. The feedback from Bucharest has been extraordinary, and by opening in Ploiești we want not only to offer good food, but also to celebrate the local culture, tastes and customs here. We want Romanians to feel at home at Wendy’s. For it to be a place where they gather, enjoy and savor the authentic taste together,” says John Chayka, CEO of JKC Capital, Wendy’s franchise partner in Romania.
The opening of the restaurant comes after the successful launch in Mega Mall Bucharest and strengthens the long-term partnership with NEPI Rockcastle, the largest owner and operator of shopping centers in Central and Eastern Europe.
The Trump Organization, in partnership with Romanian developer SDC Imobiliare, has announced plans to develop Trump Tower Bucharest, marking the brand’s first entry into the Romanian market.
The project will be located in central Bucharest and is set to include luxury residential units along with a range of high-end amenities. According to the companies, the development aligns with the Trump Organization’s strategy of expanding its global portfolio of residential, hotel, and golf properties.
Eric Trump, Executive Vice President of the Trump Organization, stated that the project reflects the company’s focus on quality and innovation and described the partnership with SDC Imobiliare as an important step in introducing the Trump brand to Romania.
Karpaten Turism, owned by the Mărginean family, is investing EUR 5 million to convert a historic building in Bistrița into a four-star hotel. The first phase of the project, which included the restoration of the building’s façade and renovation of ground-floor retail units, has been completed. A Karpaten travel agency is already operating on-site.
The company has obtained the necessary building permits, and further construction is underway. The hotel will feature 45 rooms and is intended to accommodate both individual travelers and international tour groups.
Founded in 1996 by Gheorghe Mărginean, Karpaten Turism is active in both outbound and inbound tourism and is among the leading agencies in Romania.
