El Corte Ingles starts work on Spain's largest fashion mall

Spain's leading fashion retailer, El Corte Ingles, said on Thursday it has started construction work on a 39,000 m² store at Puerto Venecia, Zaragoza. Occupying six floors, the store will anchor Spain's largest dedicated fashion mall with 73,000 m² of retail space hosting brands such as Primark and Desigual among others. The mall is already 60% let to top national and international brands almost two years ahead of opening.

The Zaragoza store is part of the Puerto Venecia development, one of Europe's largest shopping and leisure projects with a total 206,000 m² of space. The development, which will offer an integrated retail park, fashion mall and a leisure, sports and adventure area, is the first investment in Spain by British Land and is being developed by Eurofund Investments Zaragoza, a joint venture between British Land and a private investors' consortium. The scheme is due for completion in 2010 and will involve an investment of EUR 1 bn.

The first phase of the development, consisting of a 83,000 m² retail park, officially opened in October this year. Over 90% of the retail park space is let to brands such as Leroy Merlin, Conforama, Media Markt, PC City, and Porcelanosa. The second phase of development includes the construction of the fashion store as well as the leisure and sports activities areas centred on a 10,000 m² lake and canal. The scheme is serviced by 10,000 parking spaces.

Nick Hodson, chief executive of Eurofund Investments Zaragoza, the developer of Puerto Venecia said: 'The excellent letting performance two years ahead of opening confirms the commitment of leading retailers to the project, which overall is already 65% let. Even in the current economic climate we continue to have a high level of interest and enquiries from retailers as they recognize that Puerto Venecia is something very special.'