"This is something that you would not see in Southeastern Europe," Jovica Jakovac, managing director of Colliers International Serbia, explains to Globest.com. "Once it's developed, I think you will definitely see a new standard set for investors and developers in Novi Sad." Vondel's site at the corner of Narodnog Fronta and Shakespeare Street was acquired in December 2007 from the government, which had used it as a parking lot. The land abuts a city park and is just 200 meters from the Danube River.

Vondel's Park City project, coming out of the ground in one fell swoop, will consist of a trio of eight-story residential buildings with 230 for-sale apartments; a 6,000 m2 [64,583 sf], eight-story office building; 11,000 m2 [118,403 sf] grocery-anchored shopping center with high-end boutiques and local retailers; and 320 underground parking spaces. Jakovac predicts the custom-built apartments, with one to four bedrooms, will be at least 90% presold before the project comes on line in late 2009 and the retail and office components "will be 100% preleased."

Jakovac

Novi Sad is Serbia's second-largest city. "This will be a deep project for the city and the area," Jakovac stresses. "It's of the highest class and will raise the standards of living that people have here. There is nothing to compare it with in Novi Sad."

Jakovac says Vondel's Park City project is what precipitated the firm to open an office earlier this month in Novi Sad. With the terrain being actively worked, he says there additional major projects will be unveiled in the coming weeks.