NestPlus signs a €10 million financing with Exim Banca Românească for Brăila Plaza, the city's first street mall

NestPlus, through its NestPlus Plaza division, has signed a €10 million investment loan with Exim Banca Românească for the construction of Brăila Plaza, the largest street mall in the city of Brăila — an investment worth €17 million. Handover to tenants is scheduled for 2026.

Brăila Plaza is part of a commercial centre of roughly 17,000 m², developed in phases on the former Promex industrial platform in the north of Brăila — a site of around 6 hectares brought back to life through an ample urban-regeneration project, where Kaufland and Lidl have recently opened their own stores and Penny operates in the immediate vicinity. The new gallery, with a leasable area of approximately 9,000 m², completes the ensemble and turns it into the main retail destination of the city's north, with direct access from the E87 and a catchment of over 400,000 inhabitants in the Brăila–Galați conurbation. The building is designed to nZEB standard and will be fitted with photovoltaic panels covering part of the gallery's energy consumption. Brăila Plaza is not an isolated project: NestPlus is running several urban-regeneration developments, both through the Plaza division and through its residential division, NestPlus Living.

The commercial mix is built around the major international chains present in Romanian retail — Action, JYSK, Pepco, Sinsay, dm, Dr. Max and TEDI — alongside an 18 GYM fitness club and a food court with terraces, featuring Burger King in drive-thru format and the Mesopotamia restaurant. Part of the gallery is reserved for local businesses — bakeries and pretzel shops, food concepts, a veterinary clinic, a flower shop — so that Brăila Plaza works as a true centre of the community.

“We are developing Brăila Plaza on the philosophy that has guided every development our team has delivered over the years: long-term vision, strategic locations and solid partnerships. The proximity format anchored by international retailers and integrated into the life of the community is the model that has replaced the classic mall, and the partnership with Exim Banca Românească confirms the market's confidence in this model. With Brăila Plaza we continue the Plaza retail network — an investment programme of over €80 million in Romania's regional cities,” said Iulian Botta, CEO of NestPlus.

For Exim Banca Românească, the financing consolidates its position as a partner of Romanian entrepreneurs and of projects with a direct impact on the real economy, through developments that create jobs and modern commercial infrastructure in regional cities. The transaction was coordinated, on the bank's side, by Laura Combei, Carla Dragomir and Ioana Nicu, and on the NestPlus side by Iulian Botta and Paul Prodan.