PRINT THIS STORY:

CHANGE TEXT SIZE:

BIGGER FOLLOWS BIG

Dubai aims to be an international destination with huge new retail projects

BY SUSAN THORNE

As ever-larger megaprojects go up in the Arab emirate of Dubai, construction has begun on The Dubai Mall, which local developers claim will be the world’s largest mall. And it is going up beside — what else? — what they promise will be the world’s tallest freestanding structure.

Dubai-based Emaar Properties’ Dubai Mall is part of a 300-acre, 40-building planned district called Burj Dubai, which will include residential high-rises, landscaped parkland and the Burj Dubai Tower, a tapering, glass-and-stainless-steel structure the developers say will be taller than the current world’s record holder, the Petronas Towers, in Malaysia. (The developers are keeping the new tower’s exact height secret because they do not want to be trumped by other contenders for the title.)

The mall is scheduled for completion in 2007. It will contain 5.5 million square feet of retail and entertainment, including 850,000 square feet devoted to fashion, a three-level, indoor aquarium and the Gold Souk — an area for gold-and-jewelry shops that is being billed as the world’s largest indoor souk of its kind. The developers take pains to make it known that Dubai Mall will overtake both West Edmonton Mall (5.3 million square feet) and Mall of America (4.2 million square feet).

“This will be different totally from anything else in the world,” Ibrahim Al-Hashemi, executive director of Emaar’s retail and leasing department, told SCT. “Our plan is to bring something new and unique to this area.”

The four-level project’s sheer size puts it in a class by itself. In addition to 500,000 square feet of midprice and 350,000 square feet of high-price fashion shops, there will be 40,000 square feet devoted to hair care and beauty services and products, and 5,000 square feet to bridal wear. Dining venues will include several food courts, one of which is to offer direct views of the Burj Dubai tower, and there will also be a 97,876-square-foot supermarket and a 64,584-square-foot gourmet supermarket.

Other aspects are just as grand in scale. The Gold Souk is modeled on the layout of a traditional market district, with winding pedestrian streets lined by the stalls of hundreds of gold and jewelry retailers. One entrance to this 269,000-square-foot area leads through a three-level, latticework pavilion topped by a 538-foot-high golden dome. Another entrance, from Grand Drive, the thoroughfare running alongside the mall, leads to an activities space in the media and tech corner of the mall, where light-emitting text boards and similar displays create a futuristic effect.

Water, a scarce resource in the Persian Gulf area, provides the theme for some of the other attractions. An area called the Fountain Oasis will feature musical fountains, water jets and laser displays. Water from this feature will cascade into a lake on a lower level, flanked by Waterfront Boulevard, a boardwalk area of cafés and restaurants. An “island” on the lake will form a floating catwalk for fashion shows.

The aquarium will consist of water-filled glass tunnels containing exotic marine life, including sharks. Adding to the fun will be cinemas, bowling lanes and an Olympic-size skating rink.

One of the most dramatic components will be a red cube protruding over part of Grand Drive that will house an anchor tenant.

Al-Hashemi is confident of customer traffic for Dubai Mall. He predicts 35 million visitors for the center’s first full year of business, and ongoing growth of 20 percent to 30 percent per year thereafter.

“There is still space for retail in the market,” he said. “Dubai is growing now, and each mall has a different market and different product to deliver to that market.”

Despite the center’s size, the firm already has 147 more applicants than available retail spaces, affording Emaar the luxury of picking and choosing tenants, Al-Hashemi says. Though he will not divulge names, Al-Hashemi says both Arab and international retailers will be represented.

The mall’s position in the Burj Dubai complex, he says, offers an advantage too. “It’s like a small city,” he said. “If you come for three or four days, you won’t need to go outside the project.”

Two on-site hotels, including the world’s first Giorgio Armani Hotel, will provide accommodations. Though tourists will be an important market, so will the locals, and Al-Hashemi points out that the mall is near Dubai City’s old town and business park.

The landmark Burj Dubai Tower (which connects to the mall by walkway), will enable the whole area to stand out despite competition from other large projects, says George J. Efstathiou, a managing partner at Chicago-based Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, which designed the tower. “I think the Burj Dubai masterplan area will eventually shift development activity in Dubai, becoming a magnet for development around it,” Efstathiou said.

But even though Dubai Mall is likely to remain a flagship project in the emirates for years, it may not long remain the largest shopping center. A Disneyland-type project called DubaiLand, complete with a 6.5 million square foot center called Mall of Arabia, is under way, says Simon Thomson, the principal partner of Retail International, a London-based consulting firm that specializes in the region. “And hardly a day goes by,” said Thomson, “without the announcement of yet another major project, often of world-beating size and investment.”