The new Tehelko shopping centre (source: INDEX)
When Jakub Gossányi, the head of real estate development at HB Reavis, was once asked when the Nivy shopping centre in Bratislava would open, he replied that he did not know the exact date, but that it would be on a Thursday.
He wasn't joking. The opening of shopping centres and similar establishments is indeed governed by specific rules and one of the basic ones is to make it in time for the Christmas season - a crucial time of the year for many retailers.
But while the new OC Tehelko shopping centre in the complex of the National Football Stadium managed to make that deadline, it has been almost empty since its doors opened.
Bigger than originally planned
In 2013, when the National Football Stadium project received its building permit, it was obvious that it would include a shopping arcade. Its investor expected the project to be completed in 2016.
But the deadlines were repeatedly pushed back - the football stadium opened in March 2019, and an office tower and apartment block were completed in 2020, with space for shops and services on the lower floors.
The original plans were for around 7,500 square metres of retail premises, although even before construction started, the developer submitted a revised project including a 16,960 square metre “shopping centre”.
The largest tenant of the Tehelko shopping centre is Coop Jednota with its the 1,600 square metre Tempo supermarket.
