Argo says demand for Ukraine shopping centre is ‘strong’

Argo Real Estate Opportunities Fund, which invests in Central and Eastern Europe, says Spanish retail chain Zara has agreed to lease space at its Odessa Riviera Shopping City, and there is interest in other international groups.

Argo Real Estate Opportunities Fund has let a unit in Ukraine project, Odessa Riviera Shopping City.

Zara, the Spanish clothing chain, has agreed to take space while other leading fashion retailers are in talks in advance of a summer opening, it said in a statement. Pull and Bear, Bershka and Stradivarius, which are owned by the same holding company as Zara, have also taken space.

In total, Riviera Shopping City will cover 100,000 square meters and is Odessa’s first internationally anchor-tenanted shopping centre. The surrounding area is a residential zone consisting of luxury villas and seaside gated communities.

Argo Real Estate Opportunities Fund, which changed its name last February from North Real Estate Opportunities fund, is a Guernsey based closed-ended investment company, investing in the commercial property markets of Central and Eastern Europe. The company listed on the London Stock Exchange’s Alternative Investment Market and is managed by Argo Capital Management.