The Gardens Shopping Mall - a new addition to Dubai's dynamic retail landscape

The Mall, which is expected to open in the first half of 2004 will combine retail, entertainment, restaurant and family activities all within a uniquely themed environment. The total cost of the project will be in the vicinity of 800 million dirhams.

"The Gardens Shopping Mall will provide a unique shopping experience featuring a wide variety of outlets in a themed family oriented environment", said Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem, Executive Chairman of Nakheel. "Its strategic position within the latest fast growing residential developments in Dubai including The Gardens, The Palm and Jumeirah Islands positions it favourably to draw a significant number of shoppers", he continued.

This inspiration behind the unique design of this shopping mall - which seeks to expand beyond the retail space - is the travels of the famous Arab explorer Ibn Battuta. The mall will therefore exhibit five country-themed shopping zones to reflect Battuta's travels through Morocco, Egypt, Persia, India and China. "We expect that these themes, which will be richly demonstrated through both the architecture and interiors, will draw both UAE residents and tourists alike to experience the atmosphere", said Bin Sulayem.

The unique theme is expected to position the mall as a prime tourist attraction for visitors to Dubai. People of all ages will be able to delight in the discovery of new lands and learn all about Ibn Battuta and his wonderful contributions to science and geography. Not only with the theme be a major attraction but the world's largest indoor maze on the same site will also delight, with a multitude of activities to keep families occupied for hours.

Overall the Mall is expected to comprise of a range of outlets from specialty shops to fashion and homewares outlets, restaurants, a hypermarket and cinemas. "Over 300 units will be available for lease throughout the single level mall covering 3.1 million square feet. In addition there will also be provisions for 5000 car parking spaces and unique family activities to take the total site space up to 5.4 million square feet," said Andrew Chambers, General Manager of the Gardens Shopping Mall.

The mall's convenient location was chosen after a thorough research project into the viability of the area. The results of the research stated that by the end of 2004 the population level within a 5minute drive of the mall is expected to be over 130,000 and by 2008 over 265,000. In addition to this, by 2008 within a 15minute drive, over 880,000 people are expected to be living. Apart from the residents, there are also up to 600,000 tourists per annum staying in hotels within a 15minute radius. To facilitate this large volume of traffic to the mall a complete road network leading to the project is being developed in collaboration with the Dubai Municipality.

"We are currently in the process finalizing deals with several international anchor tenants, including many that have never been seen before in the region" said Bin Sulayem.

The appointed Managers for the mall are Byvan International Pty Limited, part of the FPDSavills group - one of the three largest commercial real estate agency businesses in the world. Bin Sulayem said, "We are confident that our partnership with Byvan who manage over 180 shopping malls will ensure this project is delivered to Dubai at a world-class standard".

The design of the Centre has been developed by Callison Architects, whilst Hill International has been appointed as the Project Managers.

Nakheel LLC is the company behind this new and exciting project. Other prestigious projects in the Nakheel portfolio include The Palm, The Gardens and Jumeirah Islands all located in Dubai.

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