Saudi Arabia's biggest mall developer and operator Arabian Centres Company (ACC) said on Tuesday that it would start construction of its new mall in the Kingdom's second largest city of Jeddah in the first quarter of 2021.

U Walk Jeddah, based on U Walk Riyadh's open shopping centre model and ACC's sixth mall in Jeddah, is expected to open in 2023, the company said in stock exchange statement.

The statement said the mall, formerly known as Al Zahra Mall, would have total build-up area of approximately 73,000 square metres and include 190 stores, high-end restaurants and cafes, an entertainment section and a cinema.

The project would be implemented on 148,000 square metres of land area and would have a gross leasable area of about 60,000 square metres.

The statement also noted that the leasing contract for the land has been amended, wherein the start date of the 30-year lease has been moved forward by two years from 1 August 2017 to 1 August 2022 with the lease concluding on 31 July 2052. A 12-month period starting 1 August 2021 has been deemed as free year. Additionally, the total land rent for the 30-year leasing period has been reduced by 620 million Saudi riyals ($165 million) to 1.075 billion riyals ($287 million).

Earlier this week, ACC said in a bourse statement that it is planning to develop Boulevard U Walk mall in Madinah City.

(Writing by Saket S; Editing by Anoop Menon)

(anoop.menon@refinitiv.com)

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