Loving Outlet Shopping - Value Retail News

NEW PlaNNED PROJETS
Premium to develop
Sicilia Outlet Village
SiCiLiA OUTLET ViLLAGE is scheduled
to open in March 2010. the project is
being developed by Milan-based Premium
Retail in Agira (Enna), in the heart of the
island’s lakes and castles district.
Located at the foot of the highest
provincial capital in Italy, at the Dittaino
junction on the Palermo-Catania (A19)
motorway, Sicilia Outlet Village will be
developed in two phases.
Phase 1 will comprise 25,000 m 2 of
GLA, followed by a 6,000-m 2 phase 2. The
center will be served by a vast 2,200-space
parking lot, much of it shaded. The centre’s
architecture reflects the region’s Sicilian
Baroque period, with enhancements that
include ceramics and mosaics rendered by
the artisans and masters of Caltagirone.
Like a true village, the design includes
charming Sicilian restaurants, pastry shops,
ice cream parlours and cafés set among
flower beds, shade trees and pergolas.
Sicilia Outlet Village also will feature
areas dedicated to recreation for families
and children, tourist and information
services and community plazas designed
to host cultural events and concerts. In
addition to designer outlets, the center’s
tenancy will include shops displaying Sicilian
craftsmanship, foods and wines.
Sicilia Outlet Village is strategically
located at the geographic center of the
island, allowing for fast and easy access
from all the major urban centers in Sicily:
20 minutes from Caltanissetta, 30 minutes
from Catania, 60 minutes from Agrigento
and Taormina and 90 minutes from Palermo.
In addition to the A19, the ordinary
road network and the railways will
guarantee access to and from the center,
ensuring that it can be reached in a short
time from any direction and generating a
catchment area of some 4 million people
within a 90-minute radius.
The province of Enna sees more than 1.5
million tourists each year, attracted by the
artistic heritage that includes the Villa Romana
del Casale in Piazza Armerina, named
a World Heritage property by UNESCO.
Premium Retail, which was founded in
2008 by Stefano Stroppiana and the Percassi
Group, handles the design, development,
marketing and operation of large luxury
retail properties, including such formats as
designer outlets, fashion malls, retail parks,
theme shopping centers, green shopping
centers, luxury malls and other innovative
multi-use distribution channels.
18 InternatIOnal Outlet JOurnal Fall 2009
Sicilia Outlet Village, being developed by Premium Retail, is located in the center of
the island with easy access to urban centers as well as cultural sites.
Promos, irgenre
plan new center
near Salerno
iTALiAN RETAiL DEVELOPERS Irgenre
and Promos announced recently the
planned development of a Cilento Outlet
Village, to open in Eboli, in the Campania
Region, close to Salerno.
The €80 million scheme, to be funded by
Irgenre and managed, marketed and leased
by Promos, will be constructed in two
phases. The 18,000-m 2 phase 1 will comprise
90 shops and 2,500 parking spaces. A
7,000-m 2 phase 2 will follow, bringing the
total project to 25,000 m 2 and 125 tenants.
Construction is already in progress, with
the opening scheduled for yearend 2010 or
early 2011.
MAB/Neinver plan
honfleur center
iN PARTNERShiP with MAB Development,
Neinver is planning to develop its
first factory outlet center in France. According
to Jorge Sánchez Mera, who has
been Neinver’s corporate retail director
since 2003, the planned scheme is in Honfleur,
in Normandy, close to the beach.
“France is difficult,” Mera says, “but
now we are in the running with McArthur-
Glen and Value Retail because we have
relationships with more than 600 brands
across Europe. The value concept now has
acceptance and momentum throughout
Europe. Our centers are doing better than
ever – double digit increases – so we are
more aggressively marketing and leasing
our concepts.”
With its portfolio of outlet centers in
Poland, Portugal, Spain, Italy and Germany,
Neinver is quite comfortable branching
into the unchartered waters of France
with an 18,000-m 2 outlet center.
“We believe in becoming locals in each
market,” Mera says. “In Poland, 60 of our
staff of 60 are Polish; in Italy, 40 of our
staff of 50 are Italian; in Spain, 90 percent
of 180 people are Spanish; in Portugal, 100
percent; in Germany, 100 percent. Keeping
the local flavor is essential.”
Honfleur, The Style Outlets will open in
Honfleur, France in spring 2011.
Site found for first
Serbian scheme
GVA GRiMLEY Outlet Services will lease
and operate what could be Serbia’s first
outlet centre. The 30,000-m2 scheme
will be in Indija, on a highly visible site on
the E75 highway between Serbia’s capital
of Belgrade and its second city, Novi Sad.
Scheduled to open in the autumn of 2010,
the center has a catchment of 3.5 million
people within a 30 minute drive.
“We’ve opened up new markets for high
quality outlet centers throughout Central
and Eastern Europe over the past six
years,” said Brendon O’Reilly, executive
director of GVA Grimley Outlet Services.
“This opportunity in the Republic of Serbia
is as exciting as they come. It’s a beautiful
development in a massive, highly accessible
plot in the middle of all the people in
a country that doesn’t have enough retail
real estate, especially in Belgrade.”
Economic growth in the CEE territories
continues, O’Reilly said, pointing out
that Serbia’s economy grew by 6 percent
in 2008. c