Property
The mayor's office in Ghent is considering awarding the designation of "tourist centre" to shopping centre The Loop. That would mean that stores would be allowed to open whenever they want - including nights and Sundays. Unizo, an organization for SMEs, warns for the disastrous effects for stores in the city centre.
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French real estate investor Klépierre will not participate in the Neo shopping project at the Heysel in Brussels. It is still unclear what the other partners in its consortium, AG Real Estate and Wereldhave, will now do.
Dutch shopping centre Hoven Passage in Delft will expand by 20 percent, as its owner Van der Vorm Vastgoed announced the project's expansion with 2,500 sqm to 15,000 sqm.
Shopping malls can still be an interesting investment for real estate investors, especially if they consider how those malls can be adapted to the current situation of cross-channel retail - according to a European study.
The Netherlands had 570 stores per 100,000 inhabitants in 2013, which is a slight 2 % decrease compared to 2008. Differences between sectors and regions are huge: while supermarkets saw an increase of almost + 10 %, consumer electronics really suffered.
Irish fashion chain Primark is expanding all across Europe and has now leased a 13,500 sqm establishment in Amsterdam, with a store floor of 8,800 sqm. That will make it the largest Primark in the Netherlands, with 9 floors and 3 separate entrances.
Real estate firm Jones Lang Lasalle has decided it is time for a change, shortening its name to JLL and adopting a newer, more modern logo.
Real estate investor Corio has sold 11 shopping malls for 213 million euro, "27 % below the book value of 30 June 2013". Ten of those are in the Netherlands, the last (and largest) one is in France.
Swedish home furniture group IKEA managed to increase both its turnover and profit 3.1 % in its latest fiscal year. China, Russia and the United States grew the most, while Europe is “showing signs of recovery”, according to IKEA.
Carrefour has bought 127 shopping malls for some 2 billion euro. These shopping malls in France, Spain and Italy will be put in a separate company, alongside the malls Carrefour already owns.
Lotus City, a 1.5 million sqm large real estate project near Moscow, has been sold to two Russian real estate tycoons, Zarakh Iliyev and God Nisanov. Cushman & Wakefield believes the deal may be worth around 600 million euro.
French hypermarket chain Carrefour is allegedly talking to real estate group Klepierre about the possible purchase of more than 100 shopping malls. This way, the chain hopes to put European hypermarkets back onto the map.
The Wijnegem Shopping Center near Antwerp has opened a new extension, its third in twenty years of existence. Two stores are a first for the BeNeLux: Danish childhood heroes Lego and Benetton's new concept Playlife.
Come next October, British fashion retailer Topshop will have its own shop at Galeries Lafayette in Paris. This time it is a permanent shop, unlike its three week pop-up store in February.
European real estate promoters still prefer retail properties, despite the economic crisis and the rise of e-commerce. That is the conclusion of a report by business consultant PwC.
Today Belgian real estate group De Vlier has laid down the foundation stone for its retail park in Asten, near Linz in Austria. It will become the first complex of the group in Central Europe, planned to open in the autumn of 2013, just in time for the holiday shopping.
