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| (Kanyon Mall - Istanbul) |
It may seem a bit odd to write a post about retail development in Turkey and the United States. But the economies in Europe and Asia continue to develop and although the US has pushed forward on some projects, many still languish on the boards. We cover the continued development in Eurasia and what may prove to be a bright spot in the US.
I have discussed the explosion of Shopping “Malls” being developed in India (India Shopping Center Explosion: 94 New Malls by 2012) and now there is word out of Turkey they will be building 25 new malls in 2011.
There are currently 266 shopping malls in Turkey and these new malls will represent an increase of 9.4% new centers. Almost 60% of Turkey’s retail centers are in two cities, Istanbul and Ankara. For a great resource for a list of Turkish shopping malls, see: List of Current Shopping Malls in Turkey.
Ankara will actually have the largest mall in Turkey when completed that will be enormous with over 5,000,000 sf of space and include Ikea, the German retailer Metro Gross Market, an aquarium (also the largest in Turkey), ski run, and housing to round out the development.
Retail development is taking off in Europe and Asia and just this last week, Macerich, the Santa Monica based developer (see The Rebirth of Santa Monica Place) of over 70 retail centers in the US, announced they will be developing a new regional shopping mall in Goodyear, Arizona, the first regional mall to break ground “in years”. We have heard many encouraging stories from Asia (India Shopping Center Explosion: 94 New Malls by 2012), Great Britain (More Good Retail News from London), and even retail progress in Prague (Discovering Dinosaurs in Eastern Europe), but perhaps the US has turned the corner with Macerich seeing an opportunity in Goodyear. We are definitely in need of a "good year" real estate wise. Perhaps this is the beginning of the momentum we need to get things moving again.
See the following for more details:
