Nordic retail specialist Citycon and NCC Property Development have purchased the land plot and building rights for an extension to the Iso Omena shopping centre in Espoo, Finland.
Nordic retail specialist Citycon and NCC Property Development have purchased the land plot and building rights for an extension to the Iso Omena shopping centre in Espoo, Finland.
The two companies have agreed to jointly start the first phase of the extension and redevelopment project covering 30,000 m2.
The new project, consisting of retail premises and apartments, will be connected to the Matinkylä metro station currently under development and will involve an investment of €120 mln for Phase I, split equally between Citycon and NCC.
The estimated cost of the three-phase project is around €175 mln. Citycon said it estimates the yield will be between 6.5 and 7.0% on completion. Construction work will commence in June with completion expected for the late summer of 2016.
The extension project will be done in cooperation with Länsimetro, a joint venture of the city of Espoo and the city of Helsinki. They will fully finance the construction cost of the bus terminal and commuter car park.
The development will increase the size of the mall by 25,000 m2, bringing it to a total 75,000 m2. The pre-leasing rate is about 35%.
'The tenant demand for Iso Omena is good and we want to secure the best tenant mix for the extension,' said Marko Juhokas, senior vice-president of development and sustainability at Citycon.
Iso Omena was opened in 2001 and currently has 120 shops, with an annual footfall of 8.8 million visitors.
