Big CEE also plans to build the biggest shopping and residential center in Belgrade with 460,000-square-meter GLA for €400 million. "We believe we are at the end of the economic crisis and that now is the right time for investments," Serbia director Robert Jahav told the PropertyXpress website. Added Mark Barnes, from Big CEE's leasing agent King Sturge: "Retail parks are new to the Serbian retail market and the development of the flagship scheme at Novi Sad will structurally change the overall shopping scene in the country. We predict that edge-of-town retail parks will be one of the most exciting developments in the market for some time to come."

Big CEE is a joint venture between Hungary's Central European Estates, controlled by Israeli billionaires Julij Ofer and Nimrod Rinat, and Israeli company BIG Shopping Centers, the largest retail park operator in Israel. It has chosen Serbia and India to spearhead a new international expansion.