The latest European shopping center? Hamburg marks the end of an era while Westfield turns to Saudi Arabia for his next retail boom
Unibail -Rodamco -Westfield (URW), based in Paris – The Commercial Central, better known for its Westfield brand shopping centers – opened the doors to its last development of the shopping center last month. Nothing unusual on this subject, but as he made his debut, the question is whether it will be the last Ground-Up shopping center in Europe, for Urw or one of the other major developers.
And on the heels of Hamburg, the company also announced an important transaction to extend its brand to the hottest market in the Middle East, Saudi Arabia. The sand of time certainly has the impression of moving east.
Indeed, it is over the time when real estate investors competed to take up space for downtown programs led by detail or to build super-regional outside the city because Europe is apparently carried out with regard to new shopping emporiums.
Europe retreats as the investment changes speed
Post-Pandemic There have been few major developments: the proper program of the Urw shopping center in The Hague; The St James district of Edinburgh, Scotland and the redevelopment of the iconic central Battersea in London. But each of them had a specific justification for their location.
Instead, the most interesting offers in the past 12 months have seen the Swedish furniture retailer Ikea Property Amaiching Centers in Brighton, Paris and Munich, while the powerful sovereign fund of Norway was occupied in the United Kingdom and bought the remaining participation in the development of Meadowhall de Sheffield and increased its titles to Covent Garden. Another property giant, Landsec, acquired Liverpoolone, while the American investor SVP bought the largest Irish shopping center, Blanchardstown, on the outskirts of Dublin.
For its part, the Westfield Hamburg-Grugbarger of 4.5 million square feet is seated in the heart of the huge urban redevelopment of Hafencity on the Elbe river in German Port City Hamburg. This is the new brilliant centerpiece of a huge residential and office development that has helped to redefine the city and includes meals and leisure, apartments, offices, three hotels and a new cruise terminal, all linked to the city via its own metro station.
The shopping center has opened to a capacity almost with a third of the 130 retailers taking new space in the city, plus 40 additional units of food and drinks. About 85,000 people invaded the opening and more than a million visitors flocked to the center during its first two weeks.
Although the German city authorities like the shopping center to be opened, Urw has argued that the winter climate made a covered center more practical and that the two parties compromised on a two -level shopping center with large windows and light wells, as well as a striking roof design and an accent on natural light.
“I believe that our shopping centers have a very important role, attracting people to regenerate the surrounding areas,” said Vincent Rouget, responsible for URW strategy and investments
“The ambitious projects inevitably extend over a very long time, while I think that the rate of change is increasing constantly increasing. It is a project that started in 2014, more than 10 years ago, and we would not design it in the same way today,” added Rouget, because he speculated that the next generation of the business development program is more likely to focus on Europe and the United States as catalogs for the regeneration of Wider.
Urw still operates 15 shopping centers in North America – despite a tracing moment to leave the country – including Westfield Century City in Los Angeles and Westfield World Trade Center in New York, and has sold a number of assets in Europe and the United States to finance investment in the shopping centers it has kept.
Westfield finds a new land in Saudi Arabia
In a surprise decision, he also signed an agreement on May 5 with the Cenomi centers for a strategic and crossing partnership in Saudi Arabia. Under the terms of the partnership over 10 years, which includes an option to extend an additional 10 years, Cenomi centers will exclusively authorize the Westfield brand from URW on the Saudian shopping centers market.
The agreement looks like a winner-win for both parties. The centers of CENOMI, registered on the Saudi company as a company of Arab Centers SJSC, are a large regional owner, operator and developer of shopping centers, with an existing portfolio of 21 assets located in 10 large Saudi cities and an ambitious development pipeline.
The partnership will initially focus on the flagship destinations in the three largest Saudi cities of Jawharat Jeddah, Jawharat Riyadh and Nakheel Dammam, and will eventually include up to eight of Cenomi centers.
But the opening of Hamburg and the agreement in Saudi Arabia also suggest a broader story. The death of retail in Europe was madly overestimated in the middle of the online hyperbola of the pandemic years, but the development of retail through the continent could be made. The best shopping centers in Europe are healthy, but there is no need for new retail spaces. Look at the East, however, and Saudi Arabia currently offers enormous potential while the country's leaders are trying to remove its economy from energy domination.
Urw may have built the only brand of shopping center recognized worldwide with Westfield – and as the development of the shopping center slows down, the power of this brand is only growing.
This story was initially presented on Fortune.com
