1998 European Shopping Centre Awards

Commendation

Refurbishment
Out of Town

Wijnegem Shopping Centre
Antwerp, Belgium

The recipient of a commendation for refurbishment, Wijnegem Shopping Centre in Antwerp, Belgium, appears ready to take its place in the European Community.

The renovated center offers a pan-European who's who of retailers, including Marks & Spencer (United Kingdom), C&A (Germany), FNAC (France), HEMA (the Netherlands), Hennes & Mauritz (Sweden), Zara (Spain) and Super GB, a home-grown hypermarket run by Belgium's giant GIB Group. All told, some 35% of the mall's 57,804 square meters of gross leasable area is devoted to international retailers.

One of the few out-of-town malls in Belgium, Wijnegem Shopping Centre has been a success since it opened next to an existing hypermarket in 1993. A project of two Brussels-based firms, ING Real Estate International (part of the Dutch ING Group) and Royale Belge, the refurbishment called for the demolition of the original hypermarket and expansion of the existing retail space by 50%. The number of shops was increased from 189 to 240.

---

The refurbishment of Wijnegem called for the demolition of one hypermarket and the construction of another.

---

At the same time, the developers enlarged the car park from 2,500 spaces to 3,400, which helped solve a space problem that had plagued the mall since it opened. The lot is color-coded for identification purposes and well-lit. In addition, the mall operates a shuttle bus from another parking lot about 4 kilometers away.

According to the ICSC jury, the original pedestrian flow at the mall was slightly confusing. The new extension has improved circulation.

"It is still quite complicated, however (if only because of its size)," the jury said, "but the developers have cleverly used features -- including a large clock, balloons and a 'jumping jets fountain' -- for customers to orient themselves."

The new design must be working. Traffic increased to 8 million visits a year from 6.4 million before the refurbishment.