(1888PressRelease)
September 15, 2006 - Rs. 2500 Crores expansion plan in Mall business by the Prestige group, Bangalore.
Prestige Group, the Bangalore based real estate giant, has now taken the Mall business seriously. After successful launch of two Malls in Bangalore namely, The Forum & Eva, the group now plans to invest a whopping Rs. 2500 Crores into the Mall business in the next two to three years. The group has plans to set up Malls in major south Indian cities such as Chennai, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Mangalore, etc.
Forum was the first true Mall in south India spread over a 6,50,000 Sqft, complete with shopping, entertainment, food courts, multi level car park (MLCP), a ten screen multiplex, etc. Forum was the pioneers in south India to kick start the Mall culture, in 2004.
While the major part of the investment would be self accrued, there is a small portion which would be raised as debt. The investment will be staggered in the next few years wherein about 3000000 (three million) Sqft of space would be dedicated to retail in 3 to 4 cities. “We are a Mall development company rather than a Mall builder, & the focus is towards creating Malls which are Customer & Retailer friendly. The learning of the previous Malls would be a great advantage to the group” says Mr. Susil DUNGARWAL, Head – Retail (Mall Business).
Each Mall will have an investment of about Rs. 200 to 300 Crores, and a designed with the expertise of the group & a set of architects. “Each of our Malls would be a driver & destination as they are all very strategically located in each city” says Mr. Irfan Razack, Chairman & Managing Director, Prestige group. The group does a thorough research before selection of a city or location. Most of the Malls are in the conceptualization stage & work would begin on all of them soon. Mr. DUNGARWAL opined that “The group is now looking at the Mall business very seriously & would like to position itself as one of the best Mall developing companies in south India, before they set foot in the rest of the country.”
The group has till date finish more than 125 projects, both commercial & residential with more than 25 million Sqft of spread. Prestige group is also developing a huge commercial hub in the heart of Bangalore in association with the UB group, with a mix of office, F & B, retail & service apartments with about 1.3 million Sqft and would be completed by end of this year.
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