Dubai: That Mall of the Emirates is expanding by adding a second floor might sound a deceptively simple undertaking for a developer who has built some of the biggest shopping destinations in the region. It is only when the numbers are brought to the surface that the level of complexity shines through.
The mall expansion via the extra floor will create an additional 250,000 square feet of gross leasable area, of which 100,000 square feet will be dedicated for a 24-screen multiplex operated by VOX by relocating the existing 14-screen facility. A new anchor tenant will occupy a further 35,000 square feet. (The overall GLA will thus scale up to 2.5 million square feet.)
The overall cost of the expansion will tally Dh1.5 billion and be ready some time in the third quarter of 2015. This includes the Dh460 million that will be used to touch up and make subtle changes to the existing facility. (Part of the complexity derives from having to build up with minimal disruption to the visitor traffic at the existing part of the mall. And its all being done off-sight and involves 3,000 workers working over a 24X7 cycle. It has entailed a combined 4 million hours being logged.)
“The entire mall will look a lot different by the time all the details are completed — but the DNA of this destination will still remain the same,” said Fuad Mansoor Sharaf, Senior Director for Property Management — GCC, Majid Al Futtaim Properties. “We had the Fashion Dome opening in 2010 with 100,000 square feet of GLA, followed by the Fashion District in February this year, with 50,000 square feet.
“With the expansion, our objective is to offer all possible options for shoppers — from Carrefour to the widest selection of high-end labels.”
For the new retail space, fashion brands will come high up in the pecking order — “They do tend to be fast moving within the merchandising mix the mall offers,” said Sharaf. (As of a year ago, there were more than 150 potential tenants on the mall’s waiting list.)
The developer needn’t worry about creating substantial capacity and having to wait for visitors to fill it up. From the 23 million who passed through in 2006, it has attracted more than 40 million last year. “Demand is very much there and we are quite confident about the growth in future visitor traffic,” said Sharaf. “I am not going to say how much more we expect the traffic to grow — but there is a market that can easily sustain the level of investments we have committed and the nature of what will be made available once this phase opens.
“We wouldn’t have attempted it if it was felt that an expansion work would be difficult. But the Group has got the track record of reinventing popular shopping destinations as has been consistently proved at Deira City Centre.”
History sure can repeat itself ...
