Tag Archives: Citycon’s

Posted on by

Citycon’s announces plan to (re)develop Lippulaiva shopping centre in Espoonlahti, Helsinki

Citycon’s announces plan to (re)develop Lippulaiva shopping centre in Espoonlahti, Helsinki

 

Helsinki, Finland, 2017-Feb-09 — /EPR Retail News/ — Citycon’s extensive (re)development of Lippulaiva located in Espoonlahti, in the Helsinki area, will make a benchmark for the modern, urban shopping centre catering to the everyday needs of local residents.

Citycon’s plan is to demolish the present Lippulaiva and build a completely new shopping centre in its place. The project will double the gross leasable area to around 40,000 square metres and Citycon estimates the investment to be approximately EUR 200 million.

The new metro station of the Länsimetro extension and a feeder line bus terminal will be directly connected to the new Lippulaiva. Over the coming decade, the Espoonlahti area will see the fastest growth and densification in the capital area. By 2030 the population is expected to grow by more than 25 percent. A total of 550 new apartments are planned in connection with Lippulaiva alone.

“The exceptionally strong demand for retail premises is a proof of Lippulaiva’s great location and the attractiveness of its commercial concept. The new shopping centre will open in 2020 and already 60 percent of the spaces have been leased”, says Heikki Alén, Project Director at Citycon.

Lippulaiva will have a strong focus on groceries, with one of the largest concentrations of grocery stores in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area. There will be a total of 14,000 square metres of grocery retail space, which is over a third of the total leasable area. This includes three full-service grocery stores: K-supermarket, Prisma, and Lidl. There will also be a smaller express K-market and an Alko liquor store. Other daily services will include a pharmacy, the discount store Tokmanni, and a store from the hardware chain Clas Ohlson.

A second area of emphasis in Lippulaiva will be a broad food and beverage offering, which will account for over ten percent of the gross leasable area. The ground floor will provide convenient and quick options, while the restaurants on the second floor will have a wide range of possibilities for socialising in a pleasant atmosphere.

“A diverse range of restaurants is an increasingly important part of the shopping centre offering. Our goal is to increase the proportion of food and beverage in our shopping centres from the current seven percent to over ten percent. This will be fulfilled in Lippulaiva due to the extremely strong demand from restaurant operators,” says Jurn Hoeksema, Chief Operating Officer at Citycon.

The third focus area in Lippulaiva will be on services, both private and public. Lippulaiva will have a private kindergarten Pilke, health services, and a gym. Lippulaiva is also planned to contain public services provided by the City of Espoo.

Finland’s first pop-up shopping centre 

While the new Lippulaiva is being built, Citycon will construct a temporary pop-up shopping centre, Pikkulaiva. Pikkulaiva will open in the vicinity of Lippulaiva in July-August. Pikkulaiva will have a gross leasable area of 8,500 square metres, and is already completely leased.

“Pikkulaiva will ensure that local residents have access to services for the duration of the construction project. We also want to hold onto our valued tenants and offer them a good place to continue operating while Lippulaiva is being built. Pikkulaiva will be constructed from recyclable elements that can be moved by truck, so it will be easy to relocate once the temporary facilities are no longer needed. This solution executes Citycon’s view of sustainable business,” Heikki Alén says.

Citycon expects that the contracts regarding the project will be signed by early spring. Demolition of the existing shopping centre will begin in late summer, and construction of the new Lippulaiva will begin late this year.

Citycon Oyj (Nasdaq Helsinki: CTY1S) is a leading owner, developer and manager of urban grocery-anchored shopping centres in the Nordic and Baltic regions. The company manages a property portfolio that totals approximately EUR 5 billion and its shares have a market value of approximately EUR 2 billion. For more information about us, please visit www.citycon.com

Further information:

Heikki Alén
Project Director
Tel. +358 (0)40 567 6619
heikki.alen@citycon.com

Jurn Hoeksema
Chief Operating Officer
Tel. +46 70 385 1059
jurn.hoeksema@citycon.com

Source: CITYCON OYJ

###

Posted on by

Citycon’s Iso Omena shopping centre opens first phase of extension

 

Citycon’s Iso Omena shopping centre opens first phase of extension Citycon’s Iso Omena shopping centre opens first phase of extension

 

Helsinki,  Finland, 2016-Aug-13 — /EPR Retail News/ — Once the total extension project is completed in 2017, Iso Omena will have a GLA of over 100,000 square metres, offering premises for over 200 different shops, restaurants and service units. This will make Iso Omena one of the largest shopping centres in Finland. A total of approximately 60 new shops, restaurants and service units will be opened in the first phase with an additional 40 units opening in the second phase. Tenants have shown a strong interest in the premises of Iso Omena, 95 percent of the GLA in the first phase has already been leased.

The extension will significantly increase the offering of fashion, entertainment, restaurants and services available at Iso Omena. In the first phase, retail brands such as Superdry, BikBok, Brothers, Gina Tricot, Carlings, Björn Borg, Peak Performance and Efva Attling will open new stores. H&M will also open an extended 3,000 square metre store in the new part of the shopping centre.

One of the unique features of the new Iso Omena is the extensive restaurant concept M.E.E.T (meet, eat, enjoy, together) that is the first of its kind in Finland. M.E.E.T will be opened in two phases, now and in the spring 2017, and when completed it will include 40 different restaurants. The new restaurant world can be compared to the Helsinki City Centre when it comes to the diversity of the offering. New restaurants to be introduced in Iso Omena in the first phase include e.g. artisan pasta restaurant Makaronitehdas, Goodwin steak house, the Mexican style restaurant Eatos and viking restaurant Harald. The selection of cafés will also grow: additions include La Torrefazione, Choco lab, and the Choux Company.

The third floor of the shopping centre will house a service square for the City of Espoo, a novel concept for providing public services. The service square will be bringing a library, a health centre and other public services together into a single space of 6,000 square metres. The accessibility of the municipal and healthcare services will significantly improve for the residents in the area with the extended opening hours and increased traffic connections.

New additions for the second phase include a seven screen Finnkino cinema, Zara, and a large selection of different restaurants, as well as various shops and services targeted at families and children. Iso Omena’s current grocery stores Prisma and Citymarket, recently renovated in spring 2016, will be joined by grocery store Lidl, which will be opened on the same level.

“Iso Omena’s selection is unique in Finland. In addition to a strong fashion offering and other specialty shops, we have a diverse selection of restaurants, entertainment and both public and private services. The quality of architecture and building materials has been in focus in the shopping centre extension project. Iso Omena is about much more than just buying things: it offers the surrounding community a place for spending time and socialising,” explains Sanna Yliniemi, Commercial Director at Citycon.

The final station of the first phase of the western metro line and the feeder bus terminal will be located under Iso Omena. They will strengthen the role of Iso Omena as a significant traffic hub for all of southern Espoo with an expected 35,000 daily commuters. In addition to excellent public transport connections, Iso Omena will have 3,000 parking spaces.

The Iso Omena shopping centre has been awarded a LEED® Platinum certificate for its extension, the highest rating level within the environmental certification system.

Citycon takes over full ownership of Iso Omena

For the first phase of the Iso Omena extension, NCC Property Development acted as Citycon´s development partner with a 50 per cent stake of the total investment. In accordance with the agreement, Citycon purchased NCC Property Development’s share for approximately EUR 80 million. Citycon is now the sole owner of the Iso Omena shopping centre.

“Citycon’s strategy is to focus on owning and managing shopping centres in urban areas in growing cities. Iso Omena’s location is excellent: Matinkylä is an important public transportation hub with strong purchasing power in one of the fastest growing residential areas in Finland. Iso Omena meets all of Citycon’s investment criteria and is expected to provide strong growth also in the future,” says Nils Styf, Chief Investment Officer at Citycon.

Citycon Oyj (Nasdaq Helsinki: CTY1S) is a leading owner, developer and manager of urban grocery-anchored shopping centres in the Nordic and Baltic regions, managing assets that total EUR 4.7 billion and with market capitalisation of close to EUR 2 billion. For more information about Citycon, please visit www.citycon.com

Contact:

Nils Styf
Chief Investment Officer
Tel.: +46 733 506 039
nils.styf@citycon.com

Sanna Yliniemi
Commercial Director
Tel.: +358 41 456 3421
sanna.yliniemi@citycon.com

Source:  Citycon

###