Al-Futtaim Group Real Estate appoints Evans as Leasing Director

Evans is primarily responsible for directing a strategic approach to retail leasing for two current Festival Centre projects in Dubai Festival City and Cairo Festival City totalling 5 million sq ft gross leasable area (GLA).

With more than 25 years of leasing and asset management experience, Evans has held a number of strategic positions most recently as a Partner with global real estate consultants, Cushman & Wakefield.

His experience spans a variety of markets including Syria, Jordan, Greece, Turkey, Cyprus, Romania and Bulgaria.

He has also been a main board member of the British Council of Shopping Centre (BCSC) and Vice Chairman of the Greek Committee of the International Council of Shopping Centres (ICSC)

"I am delighted to have joined AFGRE at a time when the company is expanding the Festival City brand in the MENA region," said Evans.

"The focal point of these developments is Festival Centre - the retail, dining and entertainment component. Our intention is to position the Festival Centre brand as one which delivers shopping centres of excellence through introducing new and vibrant retailers to the tenant mix and delivering an outstanding customer experience."

Evans is currently leasing the 650,000 sq ft Festival Centre Luxury Collection extension at Dubai Festival City which links into the prestigious Four Seasons Hotel and is in negotiation with high end department store brands to anchor the scheme.

In addition Festival Centre is expanding its 'Big Box' retailer offer by 20 outlets ranging from 3,000 sq ft to 25,000 sq ft to join existing household brands IKEA, HyperPanda, Plug-Ins and ACE hardware.

Evans is in final negotiations with key anchor stores, a cinema operator and hypermarket for the 1.8 million sq ft Festival Centre at Cairo Festival City and will invite expression of interest from line shops in early 2009.