Wednesday, October 24th, 2007
The ceremony of the 2000-decare Black Sea Golf & Country Club was held on October 24 in the coastal town of Kableshkovo, Pomorie Municipality. “The terrain looks like it has been created for a golf course on purpose. But when we first came here three years ago, this site was designated for a dung-hill. Fortunately, we came to an agreement with Pomorie Municipality and now we can create something beautiful.” said Thomas Gallagher, one of the project’s investors.
The project is evaluated at 194 million euro. Nineteen million of that will be invested in infrastructure - roads, sewerage, electricity supply, and a waste-water treatment plant. The project is entirely financed by Thomas Gallagher, David Newman, and Nicholas Gallagher. At the present moment, the three men manage investments in Europe at a total value of over 1 billion euro. Pomorie Municipality joined Kabland Ltd, the joint stock venture set up to develop the project, by apportioning almost 2000 decares of land for the complex’ construction in the picturesque area of Kableshkovo.
The complex will include a championship golf course (18 holes, 850 000 sq m), various sports facilities, a four- or five-star hotel, and houses and apartments with a bed-capacity of minimum 3000. After completion of the first development phase, in three years, investors expect the infrastructure, the course, the sports facilities, hotel, and 700 villas and apartments to be finished. At the present moment, the project has a Detailed Zoning Plan and an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA). The project will be designed by Spanish architects, and local companies will carry out the construction. Eight hundred permanent new jobs will be created with the golf complex development.
Thomas Gallagher, David Newman, and Nicholas Gallagher invest mainly in holiday and commercial properties in Spain, France, the UK, Ireland, and the USA. They are developing another holiday project in Bulgaria - Premium Holiday Complex in the coastal town of Tsarevo, comprising 270 holiday apartments. The project is in the planning stage. Investors told journalists they are willing to invest in the Super Borovets project, as well.
“Golf tourism in Bulgaria is immature. There are many golf projects, but few are completed. The situation was exactly the same in Spain some 30 years ago. And now it is a world-famous golf destination. We believe Bulgaria has a great potential to develop as an attractive place for golfers,” said Thomas Gallagher. The golf industry’s global value is estimated at 15 billion euro a year. In Europe, there are at least five million golfers. Blagoy Ragin, chairmen of the Bulgarian Hotel & Restaurant Association, said Bulgaria has the potential to welcome 10 to 12 million tourists a year. About four million tourists have visited Bulgaria since January 2007.
Tuesday, August 7th, 2007
One billion euro will be invested in road construction and reconstruction over the next six years. By 2013, as much will be invested in Bulgaria’s transport infrastructure, announced Pmrime Minister Sergey Stanishev and Transport Minister Petar Mutafchiev during their inspection on the the construction of a railway connecting Plovdiv and Svilengrad yesterday.
Close to 100 million euro of the subsidy on Transport programme will be spent on road construction and reconstruction. Another 580 million euro will go for railroad infrastructure. And, 158 million euro are going to be spent for improvements of water transport, Neli Yordanova, director of Coordination of Programmes and Projects Directorate at the Ministry of Transport.
Tuesday, July 17th, 2007
Bulgaria and Russia rank among countries with highest rates of tax on residential property deals, says Global Property Guide research.
Research examined several types of expenditure including registration fees, real estate agency commissions, taxes for purchase and VAT, 24 Chasa daily reported.
Results for Bulgaria and Romania showed that purchase expenditures were nearly 25 per cent of the property value, the main reason being VAT.
VAT in Bulgaria is 20 per cent and 18 per cent in Russia. This is the factor ranking Romania and Bulgaria on the top positions concerning residential property taxation.
Out of old European Union (EU) countries, Belgium and Italy have the highest expenditures on property deals, the lowest feature Estonia, Slovakia, Litva and Danemark with less than five per cent of the property value.
Expenditures are higher in southern Europe and lower in UK and the Scandinavian countries.
The commission for the real estate agency is usually shared between the seller and the buyer. Research said that it usually ranges between 1.25 and 1.5 per cent for both sides. In Bulgaria the figure is 2.5 per cent to three per cent for both sides.
Monday, July 16th, 2007
More than 2 million euro have been invested in Bansko’s ski runs reconstruction, said representatives from Ulen, Bansko ski facility concessioner. The reconstruction programme has been developed by the world-famous consultancy company Ecosign Mountain Resort Planners. Ecosign’s study and concept for the snow-based Olympic venues led to the nomination and the election of Sochi/Krasnaya Polyana to host the Olympic Winter Games in 2014.
The length of the ski runs in Bulgaria’s Bansko reached the record-breaking 65 kilometers. Bansko ski runs’ reconstruction programme is coordinated with experts from the Environment and Water Affairs Ministry, the company stated..
This year Bansko hosted a round of the Women’s Alpine Ski European Cup. Next year it will hosts the initial round of the men’s competition.
Monday, July 16th, 2007
An emerging trend on the Bulgarian business property segment is the marketing to buyers of projects at the design stage,local realtors said, as quoted by Dnevnik Daily. Everything is sold right off the drawing table before even the first sod of ground is turned, said Krasimir Dimitrov from Source Real Estate.
A crucial deal-maker for the buyers is for the respective project to have passed all relevant administrative procedures like rezoning, planning approval, etc. The latest large-scale property to be transacted at the design stage is the 100 million euro Mall Plovdiv sale to GE Real Estate and Quinlan.
The list of major projects transacted so far in 2007 includes also Mall Varna (Varna), Megapark Soravia (Sofia), Business Park Varna (Varna), Porsche Center (Sofia) and Hypermarket Technolux (Pleven). The combined price exceeds 400 mln euro.
Thursday, July 12th, 2007
Investment fund Equest and Oman investors from have set up a joint venture that will implement the Super Borovets project, said Equest managing partner Georgi Krumov. The joint venture Borovets Invest now owns 67% of Rila Samokov 2004, the project company that owns 2 mln sq m of land in Bulgaria’s Borovets mountain area for further development into residential second homes and associated infrastructure.
Equest has contributed 10 mln euro to the partnership where ownership is evenly split between the two investors. The size of the Oman investment in the joint venture was not disclosed.
Earlier this year Equest invested 15 mln euro in the capital of Rila Samokov 2004 to gain entry into the project.
The Samokov municipality controls a 25% share in Rila Samokov 2004 AD with construction company Glavbolgarstroy holding 8%.
A day before the announcement of the joint venture with Oman investors, Romanian news agency Rompress reported that Equest had acquired Romanian electronics and home appliances retailer Domo.
At end-2006, Domo had a national chain of 107 shops selling household, electronic, IT and telecom appliances, with a total area of some 40,000 sq m.
In Bulgaria, Domo has 7 specialist stores, with a total area of 3,500 sq m.
Equest already owns one electronics retailer, Bulgaria’s Technomarket. The chain has plans to expand into Romania and Serbia.
The Domo deal is a key investment for Equest as it shapes up the biggest chain of electronics stores on the Balkans, said Krumov. He did not rule out the merger of the two store chains.
Thursday, July 12th, 2007
Several major investors have plans for the construction of a yacht port in Bulgarian Black Sea resort Golden Sands, said Nikolai Nedkov, executive director of Golden Sands AD.The cost of the marina project is seen at 7-8 mln euro, a resource that the resort operator will be hard press to come up on its own due to the ongoing implementation of other top priority infrastructure projects, said Nedkov.
Work on the port has already began but 2/3 of the facility are yet to be completed. The resort has spent this year 1 mln levs on new berths and landscaping.
The resort official said the yacht marina should be ready within 1-2 years.
The yacht port is adjacent to a 1.5 ha amusement park that is being developed by the resort operator and the Parkstroy company. A 120-seater sea food restaurant, mini golf and paint ball courses and a 120-car parking lot have already opened in the complex.
The investment spending of the resort operator has topped 10 mln levs so far in 2007.
Bookings are expected to add 6-7% this year, said Nedkov. Current occupancy is at 85%
Thursday, July 12th, 2007
The first dig of the investment project in the Bulgarian town of Varshets was made on Monday.
will be built on an area of 5000 sq m. and is situated in the very city center next to a 800-dеcare park.
The future spa complex includes 4-star hotel, SPA Center on more than 1500 sq m. and 42 holiday apartments. The hotel will have 72 double rooms, 9 apartments, lobby bar, European and national restaurant, multifunction congress center with 120 places, business center, kindergarten, night bar, dental and medical cabinets.
The investors informed money.bg that they have chosen Varshets because of the unique qualities of the mineral water, analogue of which, there is only in Argentina.
“We searched long time for a proper place for investment, where to give people the opportunity to rest in a calm and beautiful place, to use the recovering qualities of the thermal springs, to provide new package of services, which to make our clients feel special”, commented the project investors from Stascommerce Invest.
Varshets is famous with its healing waters ever since the time of the Thracians. It is formed as balneological center at the beginning of last century, when king Ferdinand built his summer residence there, as well as the first casino in Bulgaria. During the socialism, the town has been visited by an average of 300 000 people per year.
“Our investment is not an end of itself. The town has been and will again be one of the leading balneological and SPA centers in Bulgaria”, added the investors.
It is expected around 70 people to work year-round in the complex, which will further stimulate the town’s economy.
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