Majid Al Futtaim (Maf) has announced a Dh260 million expansion and redevelopment of Sharjah City Centre as the conglomerate seeks to expand its footprint in the Northern Emirates. The enhancement, due to be completed by the end of next year, will add another 13,700 square metres of gross leasable area (GLA) to the existing 38,000 sq metres.
When complete, Sharjah City Centre will have an extra 25 fashion brands and storefronts, a 12-screen Vox cinema, a City Centre Clinic for healthcare and another four F&B outlets.
“Our Dh260m investment in expanding and repositioning City Centre Sharjah will complement the company’s new super-regional mall being developed in Al Zahia,” said Ghaith Shocair, chief executive of shopping Malls at Majid Al Futtaim – Properties. “Our expansion includes City Centre Ajman – reflecting the growth opportunities that we see in the UAE’s Northern Emirates throughout the next decade.”
Maf announced investments of Dh30 billion in the UAE in June, which are likely to be in place by the time Expo 2020 takes place in Dubai.
The group revealed plans to open 10 new City Centre malls, six hotels, 28 cinemas, 40 Carrefour supermarkets and a 740,000 sq metres master-planned community over the next 10 years, in a move that will generate about 170,000 direct and indirect jobs.
Maf plans to increase the total retail space in its mall network in the UAE from 725,000 sq metres to 1½ million sq metres over the next 10 years.
The redevelopment of Sharjah City Centre comes alongside the building of City Centre Al Zahia, a joint venture between the Government of Sharjah and Maf. The new development will be a gated community with 12,000 residents once completed in 2019 close to Sharjah University City and Sharjah International Airport. The new super-regional mall will have a GLA of 130,000 sq metres. In comparison Dubai’s Mall of the Emirates, with its new extension, has a GLA of 220,000 sq metres.
City Centre Al Zahia is expected to have a wide catchment area owing to its location near Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Road, which connects the emirates of Dubai, Sharjah, Ajman, Umm Al Quwain and Ras Al Khaimah.
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