Expansion will offer 17,000sqm of leasable space and will link directly to existing mall.
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Nakheel on Sunday that it had launched a tender for the expansion of the Ibn Battuta Mall, a new 28,000sqm retail hub that will bring another 150 stores to the existing complex.
Spread over two floors, the expansion will offer 17,000sqm of leasable space and will link directly to the existing mall and will be within a few metres of the Ibn Battuta Metro station, the developer said in a press statement.
The existing mall is the world’s largest themed shopping mall, with a built up area of 114,000sqm. Set on a 521,000sqm site, the mall is themed around the travels of the 14th century Arabian explorer, Ibn Battuta.
It has six individually designed zones that are named after and feature architecture that reflects the most influential places visited by the explorer.
The mall currently has more than 270 shops, 50 restaurants, a 21 screen cinema and over 4,500 parking spaces.
The Ibn Battuta expansion is one of several projects in Nakheel’s retail expansion programme. The developer is doubling the size of Dragon Mart, with the new, 177,000 sqm phase 2 due for completion in 2014.
Other Nakheel retail projects underway or in the pipeline include Nakheel Mall and The Pointe on Palm Jumeirah, and community malls at Jumeirah Park and Discovery Gardens.