Portanova is a shopping center in the western part of Osijek, a city in eastern Croatia. According to the

International Council of Shopping Centers The International Council of Shopping Centers, doing business as ICSC, is the global trade association of what it calls the "Marketplaces Industry" (i.e., shopping centers, shopping malls, and all other retail real estate). Founded in 1957, it fea ...

, Portanova has a size of with of gross leasable area ( GLA). This area serves as a regional center and has a catchment population including parts of Croatia as well as

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the ...

Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and H ...

, and

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin and the Balkans. It shares land borders with Hungar ...

History

The initial concept and planning for building a center began in 2007, with the site development work beginning on the 15th of May 2009 after all permits were granted. The financial investor in Portanova shopping center is Amplitudo d.o.o., and multiple teams from different companies carried out the development work. Teams that were involved in the project include CBRE, Mace Grup Ltd, Studio XXL, Chapman Taylor Architetti and Gradnja (from Osijek). When Portanova shopping center opened its doors to the public on March 24, 2011, it was the sixth largest shopping center in Croatia. The name of the center, Portanova or “new door” reflects a term that is based on the both the local environment and the site's location on the western entrance to the City of Osijek. Gross floor area is while the GLA is . The center has been designed with three levels (two of which are for commercial and retail use with the remaining one for leisure use). There are just over 1,600 free parking spaces located at the site, split between the center's underground garage parking, the land surrounding the center and on the center's roof.

Architecture

The structure was developed in a longitudinal shape with an overall size of . The height of the structure ranges from , increasing from one side to the other, through the ground floor, 1st and 2nd floor and the garage in basement. The building was constructed mostly from concrete and steel, utilising dark brown concrete panels and copper metal sheets which are contrasted with white colored cement sheets. The main vision for the project was to develop a sculptural building that will integrate into the urban landscape, while presenting a high visual impact in accordance with the principles of contemporary minimalistic architecture. The building takes the shape of an enormous rock set on the ground. The entrances are located in areas where it appears as though pieces of the rock-face have been broken off. The cuts in the rock define 3 distinct volumes linked together by the shopping malls, the core of the building.

Interior

The malls on the ground and first floor link two piazzas where the entrances and vertical connections (e.g.

elevator An elevator or lift is a cable-assisted, hydraulic cylinder-assisted, or roller-track assisted machine that vertically transports people or freight between floors, levels, or decks of a building, vessel, or other structure. They a ...

s) are situated leading to the shops and anchor stores. Due to the design, every unit in the center has a high shop front and an equal width proportional to its area. In addition, the longitudinal shape of the building ensures that every shop is oriented towards the central area of the mall, making it easy for visitors to find every store in the center.

Shops

While there are a wide range of retail establishments within Portanova, some

anchor tenant In retail, an "anchor tenant", sometimes called an "anchor store", "draw tenant", or "key tenant", is a considerably larger tenant in a shopping mall, often a department store or retail chain. They are typically located at the ends of malls. W ...

s that distinguish themselves from other tenants include

Konzum Konzum plus d.o.o. is the leading supermarket chain in Croatia, with a tradition of 65 years. The company employs more than 10,000 people, and in Croatia has more than 600 stores in over 300 cities in the continental and coastal region. More than ...

Hypermarket, H&M, Müller, Zara, C&A,

NewYorker New Yorker, legally ''New Yorker Group Services International GmbH & Co.KG'', is a German clothing retailer headquartered in Braunschweig. In 1971 the first New Yorker store was opened in Flensburg. In December 2006, the company won the first ...

and Blitz-Cinestar multiplex cinema. The Blitz-Cinestar cinema is part of the entertainment section which is located on the second floor and also contains a bowling alley, casino and gastronomy services.

Location

Portanova Shopping Center is located to the west of Osijek city center, with a regularly scheduled bus service connecting the center with the city. Portanova is also readily accessible via the southern bypass and access roads, which enables almost 600,000 people to reach the center with a one-hour drive.Portanova, official web site/Location
. Date Accessed 25 October 2011. The shopping center is located in the Osijek metropolitan area which makes it is accessible from all of eastern

Slavonia Slavonia (; hr, Slavonija) is, with Dalmatia, Croatia proper, and Istria, one of the four historical regions of Croatia. Taking up the east of the country, it roughly corresponds with five Croatian counties: Brod-Posavina, Osijek-Baran ...

and Baranja, including the cities of

Valpovo Valpovo is a town in Slavonia, Croatia. It is close to the Drava river, northwest of Osijek. The population of Valpovo is 7,406, with a total of 11,563 in the municipality. Name In Hungarian the town is known as ''Valpó'' and in German as ''Wa ...

() away,

Belišće Belišće () is a town in Croatia, located in the region of Slavonia, Osijek-Baranja County, at the altitude of 93 m. The population of the town is 6,518 (2011), with 10,825 in the municipality. In 2011 census, the majority were Croats. This indus ...

(),

Beli Manastir Beli Manastir is a town in eastern Croatia. It is the principal town of the Croatian part of Baranja, located in the Osijek-Baranja County. Name The name means "white monastery" in Serbo-Croatian. Originally called Monoštor, the current name w ...

(),

Vinkovci Vinkovci () is a city in Slavonia, in the Vukovar-Syrmia County in eastern Croatia. The city's registered population was 28,247 in the 2021 census, the total population of the city was 31,057, making it the largest town of the county. Surround ...

(),

Vukovar Vukovar () ( sr-Cyrl, Вуковар, hu, Vukovár, german: Wukowar) is a city in Croatia, in the eastern region of Slavonia. It contains Croatia's largest river port, located at the confluence of the Vuka and the Danube. Vukovar is the seat of ...

() and Našice ().

References

External links

*
Cinestar Osijek
{{Shopping malls in the Western Balkans Shopping malls in Croatia Buildings and structures in Osijek 2011 establishments in Croatia Shopping malls established in 2011 Tourist attractions in Osijek-Baranja County Economy of Osijek