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MALL WORLD

Developers to gather in Istanbul for lCSC World Summit

BY DEBRA HAZEL

The shopping center as global catalyst for economic and social development is the theme of the 2005 Retail Real Estate World Summit, to be held April 20-22 in Istanbul, Turkey.

Malls raise living standards in myriad ways, says ICSC President Michael P. Kercheval, noting that they offer better products for less, create jobs and generate tax revenues.

“We as shopping center developers and owners fail to recognize that we’re global redevelopers,” Kercheval said. “Our hope is that this program will enlighten and encourage attendees to do even more.”

The summit, which is held every five years, gathers retail real estate professionals from around the world. Indeed, the meeting is really four conferences in one. It serves as the 30th annual ICSC European Conference, the 13th annual ICSC Asia-Pacific Conference, the 11th annual Middle East Council of Shopping Centres Conference, and the 9th annual Turkish Council of Shopping Centres and Retailers Conference.

Istanbul, which straddles Europe and Asia, was a logical choice for the conference site, organizers say. “It’s also the meeting place of the Old World and the New World, of Islam and Christianity,” Kercheval said. “And it is home to the oldest enclosed shopping center in the world,” he added, referring to the Grand Bazaar, which opened in 1461. A private, VIP visit to the bazaar, which embraces 4,000 shops, will conclude the first day of the conference.

A committee of shopping center leaders from around the globe has worked since 2002 to determine and illustrate the theme of the meeting. “I feel like I’ve been working for the United Nations for the last two years,” quipped one of them, conference Chairman Ian Watt, who is international executive director of Old Mutual Properties, in Cape Town, South Africa.

Keynote speakers include Dr. Bernard Kouchner, co-founder and former president of Médecins Sans Frontières, and former Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chrétien, as well as industry leaders. Wal-Mart CEO H. Lee Scott Jr. will talk about his mega-chain’s commitment to its employees and to the communities in which it operates.

Hot topics
Given the summit’s theme, it will go beyond the issues of design and development that often dominate ICSC’s meetings. The meeting will look at the contributions shopping centers make to the raising of the living standards of the people who shop and work in them, says program Co-Vice Chairman Fernando Zobel de Ayala, chairman of Ayala Land, a development firm in Makati City, the Philippines. “The program will take a broader view of the role of shopping center development in the social and economic development of communities and societies,” he said.

Outside the United States and Canada, the shopping center industry has created infrastructure that supports entire communities, including power supply stations and water reserves, notes Watt. “At one Old Mutual development, excavation will provide the material for construction or upgrading of roads in areas where they only have dirt roads,” he said, referring to a project in South Africa.

Shopping centers also provide a model to city leaders on how to run municipalities, says conference planning committee member Carlos Jereissati Filho, who is COO of Iguatemi Empresa de S/A Shopping Centers, São Paulo, Brazil, drawing a sharp distinction between the mall and city environments in his country. “Malls are [in a way] cities that have worked well,” Filho said. “They are safe, comfortable, clean, attractive, with nice landscaping. That’s what we want our cities to be.”

Other benefits are more social in nature. “You’re creating places where the community can meet and socialize,” Watt said. “There’s an aspirational theme. With the Internet, people see things and want them. They aspire to those things. That’s why people want Diesel, Levi’s, McDonald’s.”

But delegates from less developed countries are not the only ones who will benefit from the summit. Attendees from the more mature markets will discover investment opportunities and the ways other countries have overcome such obstacles as tight urban spaces, says program Co-Vice Chairman René Tremblay, who is CEO of Ivanhoe Cambridge, Montréal. “Look at what’s going on in Dubai and Singapore,” Tremblay said, citing two densely developed city-states. “People are very innovative in other parts of the world. As North Americans, we can learn from them.”

Inside the summit
The summit will offer attendees a plethora of panel discussions. A group of leading retailers from around the globe will discuss growth and international expansion. Scheduled speakers include representatives from Shoppers Stop, of India; La Ciudad de los Niøos (Mexico); Bench (the Philippines) and Build-A-Bear (the United States).

Other sessions include a discussion of European centers, led by Charles Joye, president of Geneva-based RD Retail and Development Services and an ICSC Europe past chairman. There will also be an overview of the challenges and opportunities in such mature markets as North America, Western Europe and Japan, and a panel looking at the emerging markets of Latin America, Africa and Asia, moderated by Karl Karcher, managing director of MindFolio, a U.K.-based marketing and branding consulting firm.

In addition there will be a panel discussion of public private partnerships with panelists David Feehan, president, International Downtown Association, Washington, D.C.; Neil Fraser, executive director, Central Johannesburg Partnership/Kagiso Urban Management, Saxonwold, South Africa; Yaromir Steiner, Steiner + Associates, Columbus, Ohio; Boston Mayor Thomas Menino and Akron, Ohio, Mayor Donald Plusquellic.

And there will be an anniversary to celebrate: ICSC Europe’s 30th.

“We, all Europeans, will be very happy to celebrate the 30th anniversary of ICSC Europe with our friends from the whole world,” said Bertrand Courtois-Suffit, chairman of the ICSC European Board and director general of Paris-based executive search firm Kharis Conseil. “We will also be very proud to show remarkable European projects in development, refurbishment and marketing through the celebration of ICSC European Shopping Centre Awards and the ICSC Solal Marketing Awards.”

Another benefit, Tremblay says, is the ability to meet top-ranking international professionals. “You will have the top people from real estate companies from around the world,” Tremblay said. “The networking will be as good as the program.”

Perhaps most important, the entire conference also has a humanitarian aspect — 100 percent of the proceeds from the registration fees will be donated to Médecins San Frontières, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and Oxfam International, all of which are supporting relief efforts in the wake of the December earthquake and tsunami in South Asia. “The conference will become a global fund-raiser,” Kercheval said.

That can only help all the attendees, in more ways than just professional ones. “The more you understand other people,” said Watt, “the better you can get along.” For more information, visit www.2005worldsummit.com.