Sat, Jul 04 2009
Real estate company Foros said it has signed up two franchisees, in Plovdiv and in Stara Zagora. The company is also in talks to set up Foros franchises in another 25 local town, including Blagoevgrad, Silistra, Vidin, Gabrovo, Haskovo, Kavarna, Sandanski, Elena and Sliven. The first of the signed contracts are for a period of five years.
The Foros franchise project was officially announced in April this year, but has been in the works since December 2007, programme director Milena Mihailova said. The programme targets urban areas where Foros has a market presence.
Currently, Foros does business in Sofia, Varna, Rousse, Plovdiv, Veliko Turnovo, Bourgas, Dobrich, Balchik, and the resorts of Slunchev Bryag (Sunny Beach) and Bansko. If the franchise program does well, Foros intends to take it international, seizing opportunities in neighboring Macedonia, Romania and Serbia.
Foros is the fifth company with a franchise program in Bulgaria. Address is the other Bulgarian real estate company with a similar program while the others are foreign outfits - Re/Max, ERA Real Estate and Century 21.
The project will be financed by the Bulgarian Bank for Development, and the Joint European Support for Sustainable Investment in City Areas, or Jessica Programme, although the report has so far failed to reveal the total cost of the vast enterprise.
The strategic plan envisages the conservation of the nature "for decades ahead", and it was formulated by a municipal team headed by professor Ivan Nikiforov, backed by Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev.
Once the overhaul and reconstruction of the Sofia–Vidin line is complete, it will cut travel time to three hours, as the train will be able to reach speeds of up to 160 km/h, shortening the journey to three hours.
Marriott however has made it clear that is not interested in investing in construction, but rather to occupy and manage existing buildings. Its strategy is to obtain management contracts.
Investors realise that it’s not viable to have a building remaining empty over the course of a year – so it's better for them to employ more flexibility to offset that loss.