#COMPLETED: al wahda mall expansion

[Burj Khalifa fan]

name : AL wahda mall ( Expansion )
Location: defense street
Floors: 3 or 4
Use:Commercial
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[Burj Khalifa fan]

Abu Dhabi: Al Wahda Mall will soon be the capital's largest shopping centre. The mall, which has put in place a 1.7 million square foot extension, is due to open in the third quarter of this year.

The new extension will include over 250 stores which will be divided into different zones, a health club, a cinema and a number of restaurants. It's a project that the developer believes will double the number of visitors per year.

"Almost 80 per cent of the retail space in the extension has already been leased," Raja Abdul Khader, director of Line Investments, said, adding: "We're in the process of handing over the stores for their fit-outs and interior décor, etc."

Line Investments currently manages 11 malls in the region, including six in Abu Dhabi.

"Last year, we had 9.5 million visitors and we're expecting this to go up to 20 million," Gogi George, leasing manager at Line Investments and Property, the developer and a subsidiary of Emke Group, which also owns LuLu Hypermarket, said.

More parking space will be allocated for visitors, allowing up to 4,000 to park in the mall. The existing mall takes in 1,750 cars. "We've planned the extension in a way that whatever we found deficient in the existing mall offering has been now introduced in the development," George said. "Almost 50 per cent of the brands will be new to Abu Dhabi."

Vacancy percentage

The developer says the mall has been doing well with a vacancy percentage of less than 5 per cent last year. "Brands want to be there," George said.

However, the company is not banking on the mall being the largest in the city to attract shoppers. "When the Dubai Mall opened, a lot of people said it's too big and it won't work," Anoop Gopal, a leasing manager, said.

"But, it turned out to be different because at the end of the day, if you have everything offered under one roof, people would like to be there because every brand will be there and everything you want to do will be there."

[Burj Khalifa fan]

the red circle is the Expansion

[kubabh]

this is a huge building and they will stil expand that.thats wierdo

[uklad1979]

Originally Posted by kubabh

this is a huge building and they will stil expand that.thats wierdo

It's a small badly laid out mall. The extension will make it feel like more of a maze but at least will bring it to the size it needs to be to compete with marina mall. I wish they had designed this mall more like Mushrif which has a great layout.

[MOHMOH]

Abu Dhabi set for a huge increase in retail space

http://www.thenational.ae/thenationa...n-retail-space


Hundreds of stores are due to open in the heart of Abu Dhabi this year as Al Wahda Mall prepares to unveil a huge extension in August, doubling the size of the shopping mall.
Related

Ibn Battuta Mall, the largest themed mall in the world with 111,500 square metres of retail space, is about to double its size. Randi Sokoloff / The National
■ Nakheel to double size of Dragon Mart and Ibn Battuta Mall

Topic

UAE

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The expansion comes as developers announce major retail plans across the country and as an enormous amount of shopping space is forecast to be completed in the capital this year.

Al Wahda will open a further 256 shops and food and beverage outlets, including a cinema and health and fitness centre, to add to the 200 it already has.

"The extension is completed and we have started handing over shops to the tenants," said Raja Abdulkhader, the director of Line Investment & Properties, part of Emke Group, the mall's developer and the owner of LuLu Hypermarket. "We have already leased more than 80 per cent of stores."

The retail, entertainment and leisure sector is an increasingly important source of recurring income for developers across the Emirates, with stores reporting burgeoning revenue as consumer spending increases and more tourists visit the country.

Dubai has been a major beneficiary of the Arab Spring, with more tourists from the GCC visiting the emirate, but Abu Dhabi has also reported a big increase in visitor numbers in the past year, which has helped buoy retail sales.

Tourist numbers in Dubai increased 10 per cent to 9.3 million last year compared with 2010, and Abu Dhabi had a record year, with 2.1 million visitors, up from 1.8 million in 2010.

A total of 260,000 square metres of retail space is expected to be completed this year in Abu Dhabi on top of 1.67 million sq metres currently available in the capital, according to the property consultancy Jones Lang LaSalle.

Builders are scheduled to hand over three malls: Paragon Bay Mall on Reem Island; Capital Mall in Mohammed Bin Zayed City; and Deerfields Townsquare in Al Bahia.

There are also new smaller developments such as Etihad Towers, Galleria at Sowwah Square and Emporium at Central Market also forecast to open.

"Abu Dhabi is still a pretty strong market that's undersupplied with retail," said Matthew Green, the head of consulting at the property consultancy CBRE.

"There is considerable supply coming on, which will lead to softening of rents, but the major malls and the ones that are established are likely to continue to do well," said Mr Green. "It's going to be difficult for the newer malls to come in and take consumers from those malls."

Many analysts also remain sceptical about whether all the planned developments will open on time.

But Mr Abdulkhader said he was confident Al Wahda's extension would open on time and that about 40 per cent of the brands would be new to Abu Dhabi, having already opened in Dubai and other GCC countries.

"We will declare the names of the brands a little later. But we are expecting [the mall] to be open in the third quarter, targeting August," he said. "The extension has facilities that are currently missing. It has a cinema and one unique [point] is the largest health club in the UAE."

Al Wahda Mall had more than 9.5 million visitors last year, up 15 per cent on 2010, and Mr Abdulkhader expects that figure to reach 20 million once the extension is complete.

"Retailers are satisfied with their representation in Dubai and Al Ain, but not with their representation in Abu Dhabi," said Andrew Goodwin, the head of retail for the Middle East and North Africa at DTZ, a property specialist. "With Al Wahda, retailers recognise it's somewhere they can do business."

This year, Emke Group is also set to open RAK Mall in Ras Al Khaimah and Galleries Mall in Fujairah.

[uklad1979]

I do wonder if new mall openings will drive some of the older malls out of business. It's common in the States for new malls to open with better tenants, layouts and facilities to kill off the older malls. In Abu Dhabi malls like Madinat Zayed need to die off and close as they are dumps with bad layouts. The Marina mall is popular but has an awful layout from badly planned extensions and a useless ski slope disaster.
I hope on Yas we see something along the quality of Dubai Mall as Abu Dhabi has malls which are dated and have dirty old toilets and few facilities. The Marina Malls food court is a prime example of this with such a huge mall and a dump of a food court they need to ditch the fun fair and bring the food court up to standard.

[italiano_pellicano]

news ?

[NookieX6]

Originally Posted by uklad1979

I do wonder if new mall openings will drive some of the older malls out of business. It's common in the States for new malls to open with better tenants, layouts and facilities to kill off the older malls. In Abu Dhabi malls like Madinat Zayed need to die off and close as they are dumps with bad layouts. The Marina mall is popular but has an awful layout from badly planned extensions and a useless ski slope disaster.
I hope on Yas we see something along the quality of Dubai Mall as Abu Dhabi has malls which are dated and have dirty old toilets and few facilities. The Marina Malls food court is a prime example of this with such a huge mall and a dump of a food court they need to ditch the fun fair and bring the food court up to standard.

So far, most of the Mall openings in Abu Dhabi have been nothing short of a major failure. I think, only Mushrif Mall could get a decent tenant mix, catering a broad income group. It looks like the big groups have lost confidence in the retail market Abu Dhabi. Yas Mall is going to struggle as well. In the meantime, Dalma Mall, Capitol Mall, Deerfields and BAwabat will have their established customer base.

[Burj Khalifa fan]

12-5-2012
al wahda mall expansion







BKF-2012

[uklad1979]

I hope they have the common sense to move the taxi stand to the back, I won't hold out any hope.

[Shad]

Don't tell me lulu hypermarket is also expanding inside ?? u will find lulu supermarket even on moon now.. Malavari are everywhere nowdays

[uklad1979]

Originally Posted by Shad

Don't tell me lulu hypermarket is also expanding inside ?? u will find lulu supermarket even on moon now.. Malavari are everywhere nowdays

I do t think it is expanding. Isn't the cinema in the basement or a gym? I wish they would update the lulu to be more bright and modern like the Mushrif store.

[Shad]

Originally Posted by uklad1979

I do t think it is expanding. Isn't the cinema in the basement or a gym? I wish they would update the lulu to be more bright and modern like the Mushrif store.

My personal opinion, i dont like lulu supermarket/hypermarket, i would prefer getting my shopping done from carrefour, but not lulu, everything is over hyped there ..

I heard fitness first is opening there too, in the new expansion !

[uklad1979]

Originally Posted by Shad

My personal opinion, i dont like lulu supermarket/hypermarket, i would prefer getting my shopping done from carrefour, but not lulu, everything is over hyped there ..

I heard fitness first is opening there too, in the new expansion !

The Carrefour on Airport Rd is old and even the recent refit didn't do much to enhance it. The parking is horrendous and the whole store needs demolishing and rebuilding on a larger plot.

Fitness First have opened a ladies gym in marina mall and are opening open in Abu Dhabi Mall, I wonder if the Al Whada one will be for men.

[MOHMOH]

Originally Posted by uklad1979

The Carrefour on Airport Rd is old and even the recent refit didn't do much to enhance it. The parking is horrendous and the whole store needs demolishing and rebuilding on a larger plot.

Fitness First have opened a ladies gym in marina mall and are opening open in Abu Dhabi Mall, I wonder if the Al Whada one will be for men.

Fitness First is opening in Abu Dhabi Mall & Dalma Mall (End of MAY 2012)

Lifeline Fitness is opening in al wahda mall expansion

[Alrayyan]

Will there be a cinema in this expansion !!?

[uklad1979]

Originally Posted by Alrayyan

Will there be a cinema in this expansion !!?

Yes they announced that.

[MOHMOH]

Abu Dhabi leads the great mall expansion

http://www.thenational.ae/thenationa...mall-expansion

The 250 additional stores set to open in Abu Dhabi’s expanded Al Wahda Mall this summer are just the tip of the iceberg for retail growth as more than 1,000 shops are planned in developments across the Middle East.

Majid Al Futtaim, Emaar Properties, LuLu Group and Al-Futtaim are building mega malls in the region as foreign brands look to expand stores. Virgin Megastore, H&M and Calvin Klein are just a handful of the major international brands opening stores in the extension of Al Wahda Mall.

The mall is to double in size, with shops and food and beverage outlets, including a cinema and fitness centre, adding to the 200 stores already trading.

...

[MOHMOH]

http://www.thenational.ae/business/r...l-this-weekend

Hundreds of new shops to open at Abu Dhabi's Al Wahda Mall this weekend

Al Wahda Mall is set to open more than 200 new stores on Saturday, having filled 90 per cent of the retail space being leased in a major extension of the building.

The mall will double in size, with new shops and food and beverage outlets, including a cinema and fitness centre, all adding to the 200 stores already open.

Virgin Megastore, H&M, American Eagle Outfitters, and Calvin Klein will be some of the major new brands in the mall.

“We are 90 per cent leased actually,” said Raja Abdulkhader, the director of Line Investment & Properties, part of Emke Group, the mall's developer and the owner of LuLu Hypermarket. “It is now just a few small shops left.”

Mr Abdulkhader said the mall would have a big launch later next month, but declined to offer further details.

Already major Middle East retailers, operating swathes of international brands, have given their seal of approval to the project, confirming a host of stores to be opened next week.

MH Alshaya, from Kuwait, has agreed to open 14 brands within Al Wahda, including Pottery Barn Kids, Dorothy Perkins, Miss Selfridge and Bath & Body Works.

Azadea Group, from Lebanon, is also opening Pull and Bear, Bershka, Pepe Jeans, Jules, Piazza Italia and Tezenis and George, which is the budget value clothing line from the British supermarket chain Asda

Landmark Group and Liwa Trading Enterprises have also signed up a number of their brands, such as Reiss, New Look and Gant.

M&Co, a Scottish fashion retailer with nearly 300 stores across the UK, will be the anchor clothing store in the new development, alongside BHS, another British department store.

The Al Wahda extension is the start of a wave of new malls and shopping centres across Abu Dhabi that will change the retail landscape of the city.

Stores in areas outside malls currently dominate the market in Abu Dhabi, making up 50 per cent of the total retail supply.

But that is set to change as the total retail space in the capital is set to grow from 1.68 million square metres to 2.3 million by the end of 2014, according to Jones Lang Lasalle (JLL), the property specialists.

JLL expects some mall projects to be delayed in opening, but about 300,000 sqm of retail space could enter the market this year.

Deerfield’s Townsquare in Bahia, Emporium Mall at Central Market and Capital Mall are all expected to open their doors this year, alongside the Al Wahda extension.

“The extension at Al Wahda Mall is forecast to thrust the mall to the forefront of the shopping experience in Abu Dhabi with a large spectrum of shopping experiences under one roof”, Yusuff Ali M.A., the managing director of LuLu Group, the mall’s developer said earlier this year as he announced the brands going into the extension.