What can a quality asset manager bring to a real estate project? Based on the example of CC Real’s international experience and its 18 months of managing Istria’s largest shopping mall, the answer is – a lot.

CC Real is an international commercial real estate management and investment company, operating on three continents. CC Real Croatia is a company founded in 2006 and today manages four large and successful shopping centers by three different owners. These four shopping centers in Croatia are City Center one Zagreb West, City Center one Zagreb East, City Center one Split, and Max City in Pula.

CC Real Management of Max City

The most recent shopping center that was added to their portfolio was Max City in Pula, known to be the largest shopping center in the Istria region. The mall opened less than three years ago, and on the 1st of February 2021, the owner of the mall entrusted the strategic and operational management, accounting, and leasing brokerage activities to CC Real in order to improve daily work processes and achieve better results.

The local team of CC Real experts is dedicated to ensuring the owners of the mall stable returns and quality long-term real estate success via cost optimization and simplification of background processes.

In addition, through a thoughtful creation of an optimal tenant mix, the goal is to satisfy the needs of visitors and to create a place not only for shopping but also for socializing, entertainment, new dining experiences, and solving everyday obligations in one place.

The primary goal in the relationship with the tenants is to ensure good traffic in the stores and thus provide them space for successful long-term business.

Therefore, every day an emphasis needs to be made on providing quality communication with tenants, focused on their needs while offering individually made solutions that can help them resolve obstacles in business. This way relationships can be built based on mutual trust.

Increase in Visitor Traffic and Turnover 

Despite the consequences of the pandemic and significant geopolitical and economic turmoil on a global scale, Max City under the management of CC Real recorded a significant increase in visitor traffic and turnover.

The half-yearly results of visitor traffic in 2022 show an increase of 14% compared to the same period in 2021 and an 11% increase compared to the same period in 2019.

Total turnover in the first six months of 2022 is almost 30% higher compared to the same period in 2021, and is almost 20% higher compared to the same period in 2019.

The year 2020 was not comparable because of the long pandemic lockdowns that affected all shopping centers.

Max City Attracted 10 New Brands 

In the past 18 months despite the above-mentioned globally unfavorable conditions, Max City became richer with 10 new brands. The tenant mix of Max City now consists of 80 retail stores, gastronomy, entertainment, and services units. Some of the tenants are newcomer international brands to the Istria region, such as H&M, Stradivarius, Bershka, Pull&Bear, Reserved, Mohito, Sinsay, L’Occitane, Elipso, and many others.

Investing in a diverse range of brands and numerous additional facilities has turned Max City into the central place for shopping and spending free time in the entire county. The visitor numbers culminate during the tourist season when a huge number of tourists decide to come to shop and spend their free time in the pleasant, bright, and modern spaces of this shopping center.

Besides the large selection of shops, foreign guests have been especially attracted to the mall thanks to its varied gastronomy offer, modern cafes, multiplex cinema, children’s play area, free WiFi services, electric car charging station, and convenient parking with as many as 800 covered free parking spaces.

Optimizing “Back-End” Processes

In addition to making external, visible changes to the mall, by adding new stores and enriching it with new content, CC Real team “bolded” the figures by improving background processes related to the supply and utilization of energy sources, functioning of on-call services, introducing advanced accounting and financial controlling systems and providing regular and systematic reporting to the owner.

With the synergy of “front-end” and “back-end” processes and by applying good practices adopted during their 16 years of business experience, CC Real has brought Max City stability and laid excellent foundations for its long-term success.

For more information about CC Real visit their official website.