JEDDAH — The Red Sea Mall, Jeddah's biggest shopping center and family entertainment district, formally announced the commencement of its largest expansion project in a ceremony at the Park Hyatt Hotel. “The Red Sea Mall's 200 million expansion strategy is the largest mall expansion in Saudi Arabia. The expansion will add even more international brands and entertainment facilities, and underscores our unwavering commitment to enhancing the Red Sea Mall experience for our valued visitors and tenants," said Sheikh Saleh Bin Mahfouz, Chairman of the Red Sea Mall Markets Co. Ltd. CEO of Red Sea Markets Co. Ltd Mohammed Alawi said the massive expansion was necessary in order to cater to the growing demand for commercial rental space. “There is a huge demand for commercial rental space at the Red Sea Mall. We have a long waiting list of potential tenants, and this list increases on average by 8% annually.” He added “the expansion will add around 145,000 square meters of gross leasable area, including a 4,000 square meter open space that will showcase premier international brands as well as a variety of restaurants. In addition the expansion includes a new parking structure with 1,400 extra parking spaces for enhanced visitor comfort and convenience.” The expansion, which has been carefully planned to ensure that retailers and visitors are not inconvenienced, is spearheaded for completion by the end of 2016. Middle East Council of Shopping Centers CEO David Macadam said: “The sophistication of the retail environments in Saudi has grown exponentially over the past ten years. Whereas the level of execution and operations were not as well done as other areas of the world, now Saudi Shopping Centers such as Red Sea Mall are among the most sophisticated shopping centers and retail environments in the world.” “Demographics in the GCC are a key reason for the retail growth in the region. 65% of the population is below the age of 25. This age group are great consumers and will continue to be great consumers for the next 20 to 30 years which bodes very well for the retail industry”, Macadam Added. “AT Kearney has forecasted a growth rate for retail in Saudi to be the highest in the GCC at 9.5% per year. The average growth rate for retail in the GCC is forecasted to be 5% to 7 % per year”, he added. The first phase of Red Sea Mall's expansion actually began last March and the largest phase will start soon at Gate Number 1 and then Gate Number 9 without effecting the tenants operations nor the visitors visits within the mall's areas.
