UAE’s Majid Al Futtaim opens City Centre Me’aisem mall in Dubai
The $75 million mall in the International Media Production Zone is the developer’s sixth City Centre property in the UAE
The UAE-based retail giant Majid Al Futtaim has opened a $75 million (AED275m) mall in Dubai’s International Media Production Zone (IMPZ), marking its sixth City Centre property in the Emirates and twelfth in the region.
City Centre Me’aisem is set to serve an anticipated four million visitors in its first year, largely from 11 surrounding communities.
It features 53 retail outlets, as well as casual-dining restaurants and cafes. The mall, located close to the Al Khail Road as well as the Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Road, will serve residential communities such as Victory Heights, Jumeirah Golf Estates, Jumeirah Village Circle, Motor City, Sports City and Arabian Ranches. It spans 30,194sqm, comprising 2,216sqm of gross leasable area spread over one level.
In line with Majid Al Futtaim’s sustainability targets, the mall features a ‘Bionest’ water-recycling system, a solar panel lighting solution in its parking area, a reflective roofing membrane that minimizes solar gain, while more than 83% of its construction elements come from recycled material.
Majid Al Futtaim – which currently owns and operates 17 shopping malls, 11 hotels and three mixed-use communities in the MENA region – plans to double in size over the next five years. The company’s shopping mall portfolio includes Mall of the Emirates, the City Centre malls, and four community malls in joint venture with the Government of Sharjah.
Despite the high number of malls currently operating in Dubai, the emirate is in no danger of an oversupply anytime soon, said Michael Cesarz, CEO of the shopping malls business unit at Majid Al Futtaim Properties. “Compared to the international standards, we are not ‘over-malled’ in Dubai,” he said. “I wouldn’t say that at all.”
The developer is also not concerned about growing competition in the mall business, Cesarz said on the sidelines of a press conference to announce the opening of the City Centre Me’aisem.
Global economic factors have been impacting the business to an extent, he admitted. “For American customers, it’s cheaper now to shop in Europe [for instance]. We have to find new markets.”
Although it has ambitious expansion plans, the developer is targeting stable and steady growth over the years to come, Cesarz emphasised. “We want to have a stable business. We want to see growth, but we want to see it in a stable way, because steep growth always results in a dip at the end of the day.”
