Krea opens Neomarin
Güncelleme Tarihi:
by Reeta Paakkinen
Oluşturulma Tarihi: Nisan 17, 2009 00:00
ISTANBUL - Neomarin Pendik, consisting of 140 stores, opens in Istanbul today. Maxence Liagre, executive vice president at Krea Real Estate, the developer of the shopping center, says the company aims to reach all consumer classes with its huge investments.
Neomarin Pendik, a new shopping center, will open its doors in Pendik on the Anatolian side of Istanbul today. Neomarin Pendik consists of 140 stores, including Carrefour, TeknoSA, Deichmann, Flo and LCW Waikiki.
Maxence Liagre, executive vice president at Krea Real Estate, the developer of Neomarin Pendik, said the new shopping center is designed to serve mass market residing on the Anatolian side of Istanbul. In addition to retail space and car park, the $80 million complex consists of a food court, an entertainment area for children and a terrace for smokers.
"We opted to include a children’s play area in the complex instead of a cinema in order to serve a broader customer base. Some one million consumers are estimated to live within a radius of 12 kilometres from the shopping center. But within 20 minutes from the complex, we can reach even more people, some two million of them," Liagre told Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review in an interview Tuesday.
Neomarin Pendik is one of the six property projects of Krea Group, which is the operating partner of Merrill Lynch Global Principal Investments Group, acting as investor, project developer, fund manager and investment adviser in Turkey.
The group’s first project, Neo Eskişehir shopping center, opened in April 2007. Anatolian- and Istanbul-based consumer trends vary a great deal, Liagre noted. "Anatolian consumers are more conservative. Buying decisions are often made within the family whereas Istanbul consumers tend to be more independent," he said.
Krea expects to finish two more shopping centers in Turkey this year. The construction of NeoCity Bahçeşehir-Esenyurt in Istanbul, which involves an investment of $100 million, will be completed next month. The anchor stores in the 65,000 square meters complex will be Tesco and MediaMarkt. NeoCity Adapazarı, on the other hand, will be completed in September. It will consist of 158 stores, including Tesco and Baumax, with an expected investment of $77 million.
Some 80 percent of the stores in the complex have been let. "We expect all retail spaces to be filled by September as market conditions improve," Liagre said, adding that the firm is currently considering its next step. "We are interested in areas with more than 200,000 residents and good transport links. Adana, for example has a lot of potential. There are also very few shopping malls on the sides of main motorways in Turkey," he added.
Investors in Krea’s six property projects include North American, European and Middle Eastern companies, family businesses, as well as pension, private equity, and sovereign funds. The size of Krea’s property fund is currently some 200 million euros. With leverage, the firm’s investment capacity stands at some $800 million. In addition to four shopping center projects, the company is constructing luxury residences and a golf resort.
"In Turkey, the retail market has been developed largely on the luxury model. But Turkey is a C class market. Our new mall will cater all consumer classes," Liagre said.
Maxence Liagre, executive vice president at Krea Real Estate, the developer of Neomarin Pendik, said the new shopping center is designed to serve mass market residing on the Anatolian side of Istanbul. In addition to retail space and car park, the $80 million complex consists of a food court, an entertainment area for children and a terrace for smokers.
"We opted to include a children’s play area in the complex instead of a cinema in order to serve a broader customer base. Some one million consumers are estimated to live within a radius of 12 kilometres from the shopping center. But within 20 minutes from the complex, we can reach even more people, some two million of them," Liagre told Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review in an interview Tuesday.
Neomarin Pendik is one of the six property projects of Krea Group, which is the operating partner of Merrill Lynch Global Principal Investments Group, acting as investor, project developer, fund manager and investment adviser in Turkey.
The group’s first project, Neo Eskişehir shopping center, opened in April 2007. Anatolian- and Istanbul-based consumer trends vary a great deal, Liagre noted. "Anatolian consumers are more conservative. Buying decisions are often made within the family whereas Istanbul consumers tend to be more independent," he said.
Krea expects to finish two more shopping centers in Turkey this year. The construction of NeoCity Bahçeşehir-Esenyurt in Istanbul, which involves an investment of $100 million, will be completed next month. The anchor stores in the 65,000 square meters complex will be Tesco and MediaMarkt. NeoCity Adapazarı, on the other hand, will be completed in September. It will consist of 158 stores, including Tesco and Baumax, with an expected investment of $77 million.
Some 80 percent of the stores in the complex have been let. "We expect all retail spaces to be filled by September as market conditions improve," Liagre said, adding that the firm is currently considering its next step. "We are interested in areas with more than 200,000 residents and good transport links. Adana, for example has a lot of potential. There are also very few shopping malls on the sides of main motorways in Turkey," he added.
Investors in Krea’s six property projects include North American, European and Middle Eastern companies, family businesses, as well as pension, private equity, and sovereign funds. The size of Krea’s property fund is currently some 200 million euros. With leverage, the firm’s investment capacity stands at some $800 million. In addition to four shopping center projects, the company is constructing luxury residences and a golf resort.
"In Turkey, the retail market has been developed largely on the luxury model. But Turkey is a C class market. Our new mall will cater all consumer classes," Liagre said.