In Dnipropetrovsk, shoppers are spending their time and money in the city's first upscale mall.
ed the attention of real estate developers looking for profitable investments outside Kyiv.
Ekaterina Gulbitskaya, head of the retail department for Colliers International, said that her firm has been overwhelmed by requests from companies interested in building retail centers in some of the more affluent areas outside of the capital.
In Dnipropetrovsk, shoppers have been able to part with a portion of their disposable income at the new Grand Plaza retail center since Nov. 15.
Mira Dyachuk, leasing manager for the 19,000-square-meter retail complex, said that the center’s owners were aware that they were taking a risk when they began planning the complex four years ago, since the local market was not yet sufficiently mature to support a high-quality modern facility.
Today, though, the climate is different, and the gamble appears to be paying off. Occupancy at the center is high, and it has quickly proven popular with shoppers.
“We took a risk when we started to build the center, but we relied on the market’s growth,” she said. “We finished construction of the first phase on time, and we are now certain that it was the right thing to do.”
The center, which is being built in stages, will be fully complete in 2004, she said. When finished, Gulbitskaya said that the center may occupy as much as 50,000 square meters, making it the largest facility of its kind in the country.
The first phase of the center has space for 62 stores, three restaurants and a supermarket. Already, 34 stores have opened in the two-level shopping center, including international brands like Esprit, Tommy Hilfiger, Addidas, Lacoste and Brocard.
Plans are for the second phase of construction to include another 68 stores, giving an overall total of 130 stores. The second phase of construction will include a cinema and bowling center as well, plus a two-level, 500-space underground parking garage.
“Our aim is to provide the best quality and the best service in one center,” Dyachuk said. “We wanted the center to be for everyone. Though it sells high-end goods, it isn’t elitist.”
The shopping center is the third project undertaken by Grand Plaza International, a Dnipropetrovsk-based real estate developer. Previous projects included the Grand Hotel and the Grand Bazaar shopping center. The Grand Plaza is backed by Moorespeakman International, a Canadian-Israeli joint venture, Gulbitskaya said.
Dyachuk said that Grand Plaza represented the developer’s largest investment in its 12-year history, but wouldn’t provide specific financial information.
“Grand Plaza is a classic Western-style shopping center, and it is an interesting project for Dnipropetrovsk,” Gulbitskaya said.
Eventually, Gulbitskaya said, Grand Plaza International plans to build a chain of shopping centers across the country, with locations in Kharkiv, Lviv, Zaporizhya, Donetsk, Kyiv and Odessa. The next project is a 17,000-square meter center in Kryvy Rih. Ground will be broken on that mall next year.
