Fashion House Development (FHD), a Poland-based partnership between GVA Grimley Outlet Services and Belgium's Liebrecht & Wood, said on Monday that it has completed the acquisition of a land plot on which the group plans to develop Russia's first outlet centre. The plot is located in Moscow and was bought in a joint venture with the Moscow development firm GVA Sawyer, which will serve as the local developer of the project.
Fashion House Development (FHD), a Poland-based partnership between GVA Grimley Outlet Services and Belgium's Liebrecht & Wood, said on Monday that it has completed the acquisition of a land plot on which the group plans to develop Russia's first outlet centre. The plot is located in Moscow and was bought in a joint venture with the Moscow development firm GVA Sawyer, which will serve as the local developer of the project.
The project is being financed with equiry raised by the Liebrecht & Wood Investment Fund, according to Patrick Van Den Bossche, co-founder of Liebrecht & Wood and Fashion House Development. He said the acquisition of a further two plots in Ukraine and Russia is currently being finalised, with financing already in place.
'Currently Russia has no outlets and yet there is the potential for at least 20 based on population, brand awareness and potential spend. Interestingly the original drive for us to look into this market came from our existing tenants who are desperate to move into these areas. We work as a partner with our tenants and wanted to look into meeting this need. Fashion House Development was the ideal vehicle to move this forward,' said Brendon O’Reilly, Director, GVA Grimley Outlet Services and Fashion House Development.
Neil Thompson, CEO of Fashion House Development, said that the Fashion House Outlet Centre Moscow will be the first of many outlet centres to be developed by the company in Russia. 'Currently we are looking into a further 16 cities with the hope to secure future plots,' he said.
The company's portfolio currently includes three successful outlet centres in Poland and the newly opened Fashion House Outlet Centre Bucharest which opened at the end of 2008.
Brendon added: 'It is all good news for the outlet sector, however, it is not something that any investor or developer can do without the right support in place. Those interested in getting involved without specialist outlet knowledge have found it a very risky market to break into but once involved and with the right specialist outlet team in place most have reaped the rewards and want the potential to increase their activity.'
