Unibail-Rodamco to spend €225m on Majorca mall

European listed property giant Unibail-Rodamco plans to spend €225 mln to develop a 75,000 m2 shopping centre in Majorca, Spain.

Unibail-Rodamco, which already manages a total of 16 malls in the Iberian peninsula, has received the green light for the Palma Springs project which is expected to open its doors in autumn 2016.

The mall, located in Playa de Palma, will consist of around 200 shops with key tenants including fashion retailers Zara, Massimo Dutti, Bershka, and Mango.

It will also offer a 12-screen multiplex cinema as well as 35 restaurants.

Unibail-Rodamco is also investing €130 mln in the redevelopment of the Glòries shopping centre project in Barcelona. Located at the corner of Barcelona's main axis of Avenida Diagonal and Gran Via de les Corts Catalanes, Glòries initially opened in 1997 and was bought by Unibail-Rodamco a year later.

The Paris-listed group plans to reposition the scheme to better integrate it within the city. The lettable area will also be expanded from 56,000 m2 to 70,000 m2.

The work is expected to complete during the second half of 2016.

Spain represents around 10% of Unibail-Rodamco's retail portfolio in Europe. The company owns a total of 16 malls in the country valued at €2.5 bn. In Barcelona Unibail-Rodamco is the owner of the 92,000 m2 La Maquinista, the 55,000 m2 Splau asset and the 40,000 m2 Barnasud scheme.

Unibail-Rodamco CEO Christophe Cuvillier said last year that Barcelona is a 'priority for expansion and one of the key strategic areas for real estate in Europe'.

'We are open-minded about new investment opportunities in Spain if the price and the asset are right,' Cuvillier told PropertyEU. 'We strongly believe in the Spanish economy and we definitely see potential for further growth,' he added.