Russian and Turkish companies have made huge strides for the past few years in our annual ranking of the Top Retail Developers in Europe.
That is partly due to the fact that PropertyEU Research has teamed up with ICSC for our annual survey of new retail developments, redevelopments and extensions and that we have gained access to a broader database of market players. But the main driver has been the simple fact that both Russia and Turkey still have a lot of catching up to do compared to many countries in Western Europe. According to our latest survey, Russian and Turkish malls accounted for no fewer than 17 of the top 20 biggest shopping centres opened between 2013 and 2015.
Mall of Scandinavia
One of the three notable exceptions was the Mall of Scandinavia, a 100,000 m2 shopping centre opened by Paris-based Unibail-Rodamco in November last year. That project has propelled Europe's largest listed real estate company to the top spot of our ranking of Top Retail Developers this year with a total of 350,000 m2 in completed projects in the three-year period to end-2015.
Another project that has been opened since then is the company's extension of Forum des Halles in Paris (pictured). At the official opening ceremony in early April, the city’s mayor Anne Hidalgo lauded the undulating roof of glass and yellow steel that covers two new retail wings and incorporates 7,000 tonnes of steel, saying 'the wounded heart of Paris has been restored'.
Unibail-Rodamco is now planning a similar feat in Brussels where it has a pre-building permit for the Mall of Europe, another mammoth development aimed at revitalising a long-neglected part of the Belgian capital. 'This part of the city lacks coherence, but five million people visit the area every year. It's a real part of the city,' Pascal Barboni, Unibail-Rodamco’s director of development, told PropertyEU.
New destination malls in Europe
The Franco-Dutch company is not the only listed retail specialist making waves with spectacular destination malls in Europe. Sydney-listed retail specialist Westfield is finally making progress on its flagship project adjacent to Linate Airport, on the outskirts of the city, the company's head of development John Burton told PropertyEU.
And with Galeries Lafayette signed up as an anchor tenant, Burton is confident that securing one of the world's most respected retailers will be the key to unlocking the project for other retailers. 'Galeries Lafayette's biggest store in Paris has more than 1,000 brands. We are convincing the retail world at large that this is a worthwhile opportunity. In the same way we secured John Lewis at Westfield Stratford in London, where the retailer was willing to bet on entering a new market and to be the first.'
There are a number of parallels with the Westfield development in Stratford in 2004 and its Milan project a decade later. The London site had no roads, no power and no bridges. While Westfield Milan is on the site of old warehouses and industrial units, a significant amount of work is being done to prepare the site. 'Such projects require significant civil infrastructure and are not for the faint hearted,' said Burton.
But there is interest from heavyweight institutional investors for such mega developments. Canada's CPPIB, for example, has teamed up with UK shopping centre specialist Intu Properties on two projects in Spain, the Parque Principado shopping centre in Oviedo, and Puerto Venecia in Zaragoza.
Spanish mission
Intu is now on a mission to rank among the top 10 retail landlords in Spain, says the company's development director Martin Breedan. The London-listed company has a £2 bn development pipeline and is now plotting new projects in Asturias and Malaga, Breedan told PropertyEU. Malaga is the most topical, he added. 'What we want to do in Malaga is add leisure along the lines of Puerto Venecia in Zaragoza which was a ground-breaking development…We have a strategic desire to broaden our business.'
In contrast to the 1960s and 70s when the first American-style shopping centres opened their doors on the periphery of a city, the new retail icons are being developed right in the heart of some of the most densely populated urban areas in Europe.
Unibail-Rodamco's Barboni put it this way: 'Shopping centres are coming back into the city.'
Judi Seebus
Editor in Chief
The full ranking of Top Retail Developers is available in the April edition of PropertyEU magazine
