Nakheel is to build a two new malls covering a total of 1.5 million square feet in its Jumeirah Village schemes as the company seeks to expand its retail portfolio.
The Dubai developer plans to build a 1 million sq ft regional shopping mall in Jumeirah Village Triangle and a 500,000 sq ft mall in Jumeirah Village Circle, the developer said yesterday.
The Jumeirah Village Triangle mall, located on Al Khail road, will include a 15-screen cinema, an 80,000 sq ft hypermarket, an entertainment area, a department store and shops, restaurants and cafes, Nakheel said.
It added that the Jumeirah Village Circle mall would also include cinemas, a large supermarket as well as shops, restaurants and cafes.
Nakheel said that it would appoint designers for the two malls "shortly".
The new malls will be the latest developments in Nakheel’s growing retail portfolio. The company, which was at the centre of the Dubai World debt crisis in 2009, has recently been refocusing its resources on improving the infrastructure of its developments, especially by building shops and hotels.
“Retail expansion is key to our business strategy and bringing new services and facilities to our community is one of our top priorities,” a Nakheel spokesman said. “These new shopping malls will further enhance New Dubai and provide exciting new destinations for Dubai’s residents and visitors.”
Nakheel, which is known for developing its signature palm-shaped man-made islands off the coast of Dubai, said in February that it had received six tenders for the construction of its Dh2.5 billion 418,000 square metre Nakheel Mall in the centre of the Palm Jumeirah and it expected to award a construction contract for the development in May. In the same month it awarded a Dh375 million contract to build its The Pointe retail and leisure complex on the tip of the Palm.
The developer is also currently completing work on a 177,000 sq metre extension of its Dragon Mart outlet mall and is planning to expand its Ibn Battuta shopping mall by another 28,000 sq metres.
lbarnard@thenational.ae
Follow us on Twitter @Ind_Insights
