An investment of about 350 million euros, 10 blocks of residential complexes and 5 building blocks for business purposes, a shopping center with over 250 stores with world-famous brands and over 2,000 new jobs positions, this is the Skopje East Gate project (SEG), presented by Balfin Group yesterday in Macedonia as its vision for symbolising the new and modern Skopje.
Balfin Group, which has conceived and realized the success story in Macedonia with Neptun – the largest network of household appliances in the country – and the Skopje City Mall(Largest shopping center) presented the concept of Skopje East Gate that will be the first of its kind in the region and that will unite the concept of shopping, living and doing business in one.
“Skopje East Gate (SEG) is the largest privately owned private investment in Macedonia that will create great business opportunities, guarantee excellent employment, strengthen trade, attract world firms, and offer a new approach of living in the city.”– said Mr.Samir Mane, President of Balfin Group.
For this project, Balfin Group will invest about 350 million euros, while the rest of the investment will be guaranteed through the financing of local and international financial institutions.
“Skopje East Gate is an extremely important project not only for Skopje, but for the whole country,” said Macedonian Prime Minister Zoran Zaev, who with his presence at the event testified the strategic importance for Macedonia of such investment.
Skopje East Gate is planned to be built in a space of 143,000 square meters, in which will be built around 458,000 square meters of construction.
Situated just two kilometers from the city center and close to main road arteries, the project will include a shopping mall, residential housing segment as well as a high-class office park. It is expected that all this will bring a further impulse to the ongoing economic activity in Skopje.
The construction work will be divided into three phases and the whole project is expected to be completed within a period ranging from five to seven years.
The first phase provides the construction of the shopping center and 4 residential buildings. The shopping center will take 51,000 square meters. It will be the largest in the region between Macedonia, Kosovo and southern Serbia, and besides a large number of world-renowned brands, it will include a wide range of entertainment venues, fitness centers as well as parking spaces for over 2,000 vehicles.
The residential area will have 1,600 apartments, as well as parks, amusement areas, two amphitheatres, and a greenery space.
In the second phase, 6 other residential buildings will be completed.
While in the third and last phase, the construction of 5 blocks of buildings for business purposes will be realized in a total area of 67,000 square meters. It will be the first “Class A” park of offices in Macedonia.
According to the forecasts, it is expected that Skopje East Gate will be visited by about 12 million people a year.
The project was developed by one of the largest architecture studios in Turkey, “Yazgan Design Architecture Inc.”, which has won awards such as “LEAF”, the European and International Prize for Property for Urban Hamamyolu Urban Designs in Eskisehir , “YDA Center” in Ankara and the “Volkswagen Arena” in Istanbul.
Balfin Group is one of the largest private investment groups in the region, whose portfolio includes investment in shopping malls, residential and commercial zone developments, and retail sales activities with the Neptun, Jumbo, or tourism and fashion industry, etc.
