Dubai: The Dubai Mall will add more than 1 million square feet to the existing 12 million square feet development, its developer Emaar Properties said.
"The expansion to the mall, which hosted more than 54 million visitors in 2011 to become the world's most-visited shopping and leisure destination, and also recorded robust visitor arrivals in January 2012, will take The Dubai Mall and Downtown Dubai into the next era in retailing, entertainment and lifestyle," Emaar said.
Emaar's team has been working on the expansion plan for the past 12 months.
The new addition will include the introduction of new hotel rooms as well as entertainment and lifestyle choices.
Located in the heart the prestigious Downtown Dubai, described as The Centre of Now, The Dubai Mall currently has over 1,200 stores and 160 F&B outlets. This will be further strengthened with several additions and extensions to its retail spread.
Emaar recently launched a project to build a 820-metre long pedestrian link that directly connects the Burj Khalifa/The Dubai Mall Metro Station with the mall, scheduled to be operational in 2013.
With a total internal floor area of 5.9 million sqft, The Dubai Mall now has 3.77 million square feet of gross leasable space. The leisure choices in the mall include Dubai Aquarium & Underwater Zoo, which holds the Guinness World Record for the largest acrylic viewing panel; the Olympic sized Dubai Ice Rink; the region's first SEGA Republic; KidZania, the only one of its kind children's edutainment centre in the entire Middle East region; and the 22-screen Reel Cinemas, one of the region's largest megaplexes that can seat over 2,800 people. The spectacular Dubai Fountain in the waterfront promenade of the mall attracts thousands of visitors every day.
Downtown Dubai, the $20 billion flagship development of Emaar Properties, features Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest building, seven world-class hotels, thousands of residential apartments, modern offices and The Dubai Fountain, among other attractions.
