Dubai 6 July 2014: The unveiling of Dubai Holding's proposals for The Mall of the World will form part of a strengthening mall development pipeline that is critical to unlocking Dubai's vision, says Cluttons.

Dubai Holding has unveiled the details behind its much awaited Mall of the World, which is set to also include the world's largest indoor theme park and a theatre district to rival London's West End, or New York's Broadway. It follows Nakheel's recently revealed plans for a 6.15 million sqft mall on the Deira Islands, complete with an adjoining night market and amphitheatre.

Faisal Durrani, International Research and Business Development Manager at international real estate consultancy Cluttons, commented: "Shopping is already synonymous with Dubai and has proved to be one of the city's key lynchpins in its meteoric rise as the Middle East's business capital. Dubai has a very significant portfolio of existing shopping malls and the string of new mall developments looks set to push Dubai further ahead of the region's other emerging economies."

"Dubai's malls have thus far been fairly traditional, offering global retail brands in a single 'shopping destination'. During the last property cycle, we witnessed the inclusion of leisure attractions at some of the city's malls, with Ski Dubai, iFly and the Dubai Aquarium all helping the Emirate's malls position themselves as leisure destinations in their own right."

As development across the city ramps up in the lead up to the 2020 World Expo and the Emirate's vision of playing host to 20 million tourists annually, the focus of activity has moved strongly towards the retail and hospitality sectors. Cluttons currently expects some 7 million sqft of new malls over 1 million sqft in size to enter the market over the next two years, excluding all current city wide mall expansion activity.

Durrani added: "With authorities working towards an ambitious annual visitor target, the current hotel and serviced apartment portfolio in the emirate of approximately 80,000 keys is going to have to grow significantly. And it's not just a question of swelling the hotel development pipeline, but a complex infrastructure of leisure and entertainment facilities have to be built to help drive Dubai's vision."

The Mall of the World represents a significant milestone in the evolution of Dubai's shopping malls. Not only will the mega project include 100 hotels and some 20,000 keys, it will also offer visitors 7 kilometres of climate controlled promenades, something that is offered nowhere else in the world.

Durrani concluded: "I see this as Dubai's answer to London's Oxford Street and Paris' Champs Elysee, which are both iconic shopping avenues. The added climate control element will for the first time allow the emergence of what will effectively be Dubai's answer to a high street. At the same time, The Mall of the World will pave the way for the next generation of the city's malls, where the shopping element is combined in equal parts with entertainment and leisure facilities, creating destinations in theory own right, while catalysing the development of wider surrounding areas."


About Cluttons
Cluttons is an international real estate services company which operates in over 50 countries. Founded in 1765, the business now has a network of offices in the Middle East, UK, Europe, Asia Pacific and South Africa. Cluttons offers a wide range of professional property management, agency and consultancy services across the commercial, residential, industrial and utility sectors, for both investors and occupiers. In the Middle East offices are located in the United Arab Emirates, Oman and Bahrain.

For further information, please see: www.cluttons.com

For further information please contact:
Aindreas Doyle
Edelman
+971566652045
aindreas.doyle@edelman.com

© Press Release 2014