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Shopping Centers Today -> September 2007
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EXPANDING MALLS SPUR PERIPHERAL GROWTH
San José boasts about a half dozen enclosed malls, though there are no new ones under development at this time. Those existing malls have been adding space, however, says Aris Stamatiadis, a regional manager at the San José office of Colliers International. On the metro area’s eastern side, the 248,000-square-foot Paseo de las Flores Mall, in Heredia, developed by Costa Rica-based Desarrollos Mega, will be gaining 162,000 square feet. Grupo Roble’s other mall in Costa Rica, Multiplaza del Este, which stands on the site of a former cigarette factory on the east side of San José, is getting a new phase to expand beyond its current 269,000 square feet of gross leasable area.
“We are adding a small expansion to incorporate the Spanish retailer Zara into the center,” said Salvador Bolanos, Grupo Roble’s general manager for Costa Rica. (At press time the center was on track for an August 2007 completion.)
In the Escazú mixed project, meanwhile, Grupo Roble will be renovating the Intercontinental and building a second hotel. The firm also plans to tack an additional 130,000 square feet of office space onto the current 215,000 square feet and possibly add residential as well.
The mall, too, will be expanded dramatically. When the first phase of Multiplaza Escazú was built, the shopping center totaled 215,000 square feet. Today it stands at 452,000 square feet. Upon completion of this fifth and last phase, the mall will get an additional 291,000 square feet, to be anchored by Siman, an El Salvador department store chain. The mall already boasts a Benetton, a Calvin Klein, a Zara and a Cinemark multiplex.
The mall itself has generated more retail development nearby, including a Hipermas (owned by Wal-Mart Costa Rica), an Office Depot, a Payless ShoeSource and a PriceSmart. Also in close proximity is Plaza Itskatzú, a mixed-use center with an adjoining Marriott Courtyard. Plaza Itskatzú, developed by the real estate arm of Banca Promerica, the local financial institution, contains some local upscale restaurants, an Outback Steakhouse and a Hooters. It has little vacant space, says Pablo Montoya, a real estate assessor at Colliers.
And Multiplaza Escazú has no vacancies whatsoever, Bolanos says. Indeed, the overall vacancy rate across all class-A properties in Escazú is 2.1 percent, and Stamatiadis points to “high population densities, attractive demographics and higher income and consumer expenditure levels” than in the rest of San José to explain the demand.
GOIN’ SOUTH
Costa Rica’s retail building boom may be slowing its pace, at least for the time being, says Aris Stamatiadis, a regional manager at the San José office of Colliers International. “There is not as much development as in the prior two to three years,” he said. He does, however, expect more North American retailers to make their debut there now that the appropriate retail space exists. “There have been rumors of a Sears opening up. And I understand an Imax is coming in.”
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