The retail development engine is well and truly revving up again with specialist players driving expansion across Europe, PropertyEU's special report on retail developers finds.
The retail development engine is well and truly revving up again with specialist players driving expansion across Europe, PropertyEU's special report on retail developers finds.
The recovery in retail development is fully under way across Europe as the real estate sector finds its feet again in the wake of the global financial crisis. The majority of players in the top league of PropertyEU retail developers reported a rise in the total volume of completed projects between 2011-2013. Indeed, several turned in significantly higher numbers over the three-year period with Unibail-Rodamco, NCC and Neinver more than doubling total project volume and MAB trebling its figure.
And more is to come. Some 14 million m2 of new retail space will open in Europe by the end of 2015, the equivalent of more than 90 versions of the giant Westfield mall in West London, according to a recent report by JLL. Russia will be the largest single beneficiary, with 3.8 million m2 scheduled for completion over the coming two years, giving it the continent’s largest share of shopping centre space by the end of 2015.
RUSSIA AND TURKEY
Overall, the 7.2 million m2 of new shopping centres scheduled to open in 2014 marks the highest volume since 2008, JLL said. Russia is already rising up the rankings: Moscow is home to four of the top 10 shopping centres in Europe ranked by gross leasable area, CBRE has revealed. The largest shopping centre in Europe, according to CBRE’s ranking, is Mega Belaya Dacha which was completed in 2006. The 222,000 m2 centre is part of the Mega chain of large-scale shopping and entertainment schemes developed by international furnishings retailer Ikea. There are no such large schemes under construction in Europe, with the exception of Turkey. Indeed, Turkey is also expected to see sustained growth in the coming years and already claimed - together with Russia - 50% of all new mall space across the continent in 2013, according to JLL.
OTHER OPPORTUNITIES
The opportunities beyond these two massive countries on the periphery of Europe are much smaller in size, but potentially more interesting from a value perspective. One of the most high-profile developments currently under way in Western Europe is Unibail-Rodamco’s Mall of Scandinavia, due to open in Q3 2015 and set to become the largest shopping centre in Scandinavia with 101,000 m2 GLA and 250 shops and restaurants. Christian Claesson, head of leasing Nordics at Unibail-Rodamco, claims the mall is the first shopping centre to be built in Sweden from scratch in 25 years. Involving a total investment of €600 mln, the mall will ‘push the boundaries’ in terms of retail offering and leisure, he told PropertyEU.
The special report is published in the April edition of PropertyEU Magazine to coincide with ICSC Europe's annual conference, which takes place in Istanbul from 2- 3 April 2014. Subscribers can read a PDF of the introduction to the special report by clicking here.
