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IN BRIEF

Aussie airport center OK’d

Australia’s Brisbane Airport Corp. successfully defended itself in a court challenge from Westfield Holdings and Sydney, Australia-based shopping center developer Centro Properties Group., and will now go ahead with converting a portion of its property into a shopping center. The planned $100 million project could eventually contain mixed-use elements — an enclosed factory outlet center with more than 130 retailers, slated to open in September, for starters. Pending approval, the project could contain convenience retail stores; restaurants; cafés; a golf course; child care, health and fitness facilities; offices; and hotels. Also under consideration is a section for retailers of furniture, housewares and other types of home goods, according to Brisbane’s Web site.

Westfield and Centro had sought to stop the project on the grounds that it was invalid based on its nonaeronautical uses. The court’s ruling marks a significant turn in the Australian shopping center development business because it exempts airport developers from many state and local planning regulations. It thus appears to give airport companies an unfair advantage, opines The Australian, a daily newspaper.

Simon opens Japan outlet center

Simon Property Group’s Chelsea Property Group division opened the 178,000-square-foot first phase of Toki Premium Outlets, in Nagoya, Japan. The open-air project is 85 percent leased to such tenants as Brooks Brothers, Coach, Nike and Tommy Hilfiger. Its signature feature is Maple Court, a 24,700-square-foot courtyard overlooking the scenic mountains of central Japan.

Indian retail set to boom

Foreign investment, increasingly sophisticated shoppers and partnerships between local and global retailers is transforming India’s retail industry, according to the 2005 India Retail Report, published by Images-KSA Technopak, an Indian research firm. The retail sector is expected to grow by 5 percent and become a 350 billion Rs ($8 billion) market by 2005, according to the publication. Further, shopping center development is picking up rapidly, giving retailers a platform on which to base their expansion plans. Teens’ and children’s merchandise promise to be particularly prolific sectors, because India will have more than 550 million people under the age of 20 within 10 years.

Croatian chain expands

Agrokor, a Croatian food and beverage company, opened Velpro, a 91,493-square-foot, grocery-anchored convenience center in the Bosnian capital of Sarajevo. The property will also contain a distribution center, according to the company’s Web site. Additionally, Konsum, which is Agrokor’s retail division and Croatia’s largest retail chain, plans to build another shopping center in neighboring Serbia.

Glasgow center shaping up

Glasgow, Scotland-based Retail Property Holdings is signing up tenants for Pollok Centre, a 970,000-square-foot retail and entertainment center in Glasgow. Supermarket giant Tesco and department store chain Debenhams have signed on. The project, which will contain about 80 stores and a cinema, is scheduled to open in October 2007. At press time Marks & Spencer was said to be close to signing a lease for a 60,277-square-foot store there, according to the Evening Times, a Glasgow newspaper.

Ireland gets massive retail center

Castle Crossridge Developments opened the first phase of Dundrum Town Centre, Dublin, Ireland, in early March. The 990,000-square-foot property is part of a larger town center project. The House of Fraser, a London-based department store, will anchor the center with a 102,000-square-foot store that represents its first venture outside the United Kingdom. British luxury goods retailer Harvey Nichols is opening its first store in Ireland at Dundrum. Also among the tenants are fashion retailers H&M, Jane Norman and Massimo Dutti, toy retailer Mamas and Papas, and jeweler Paul Sheeran.

The second phase will involve the demolition of the Dundrum Shopping Centre, which is to be replaced with a mixed-use center. That component will contain about 710,000 square feet of gross leasable area, including three anchor stores and 76 shops, as well as offices, a 105-room hotel and a new public library. It is slated to open in 2008, according to The Irish Times.

Hotel Chocolat opens store

Hotel Chocolat, an Internet-based chocolate retailer that also operates the mail-order Chocolate Tasting Club, opened its first store during the holiday season, at the Harlequin Centre Watford, in England. The company reported a jump in Christmas sales of 48 percent over the year-ago period and says it plans to open more stores.

Beijing developer strikes deal with U.S. leasing group

The REMM Group, an Anaheim, Calif., retail leasing firm, and Beijing-based Darwin Asset Management, have teamed up to bring more U.S. retailers to China. REMM Group subsidiary REMM-China will oversee retail leasing at the 7.3 million-square-foot Fortune Plaza and the 7.7 million-square-foot Wanda Plaza, two mixed-use projects in Beijing’s central business district. Further, REMM-China will help other U.S. retailers understand Chinese business practices to encourage them to do business in the country, says Lorie Penniman, president of REMM-China. Darwin is China’s second-largest real estate management firm and also develops real estate.

Russian grocer plans openings

Moscow-based supermarket chain Paterson opened a 17,222-square-foot store in Kiev, Ukraine, in January, the first of as many as 30 the company wants to open in that country between now and 2007. Paterson also says it plans to open its first hypermarket in Moscow this year.

Puerto Santa Ana under way

An abandoned beer factory in Guayaquil, Ecuador, is being transformed into a retail and entertainment mixed-use project called Puerto Santa Ana. In January the developer, Malecon 2000, broke ground on the first phase, which will include retail and restaurants, a beer museum, a television station, a 250-room hotel and a city plaza. Puerto Santa Ana sits on 7.4 acres at the base of Cerro Santa Ana, a 2,723-foot-high hill in the southwestern part of the country. The designer is U.S. architecture firm Development Design Group. Completion of the first phase is slated for January 2008.

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