Limassol to get second Cyprus shopping mall

With Limassolians unfettered by the noise about the opening of the Mall of Cyprus in  Nicosia, work is underway to build a 30,000-square metre shopping mall with 150 shops in the coastal port town.

The biggest continuous pouring of concrete was completed in Zakaki two weeks ago for the construction of a foundation raft, in what is considered a major achievement in the erection of a commercial property in the East Mediterranean and Middle East. 

The concrete pouring work was completed in about 30 hours by hundreds of workers and engineers from the construction company Atlas Pantou. A total of four batching plants of concrete were involved using six pumps and 35 concrete-mixer trucks. In all, 533 loads of concrete were delivered, which resulted in the pouring of around 5.000 cubic meters of concrete. All this was for the construction of the central basement floor of the mall.

Dimitris Krikellis, Marketing Manager of Tiffany Investments Ltd, owner of Limassol’s first shopping mall said that the building will also include cafés, restaurants, as well as other places for leisure and entertainment.

The mall is being built on a plot of 100,000 sq.m. and will have parking spaces for 2,000 cars. It hopes to attract around 10,000 visitors per day, which is less than half the traffic at the Mall of Cyprus during the first week of operation. The project will be concluded in August 2008 and the grand opening of the mall is scheduled for the fall of 2008.

The operator of the new mall will “an international  experienced mall management company,” Krikellis said, adding that the total cost of the whole project is estimated at close to CyPounds 40 million (68 million euros).

“We believe that the mall’s contribution to the economy of Cyprus and not just that of Limassol is multifold, since it is one of the largest investments in retailing ever made in Cyprus creating some 1,000 new jobs.

Krikellis said the new mall is located in Zakaki, one of the fastest developing areas of Limassol, only one kilometre away from the new port of Limassol, ten minutes from the city center and five minutes from the British bases.

Although he could not say which retail companies or fashion houses had agreed to take up shops, Krikellis said that “many international and Cypriot companies have already signed agreements with Tiffany Investments Ltd., but brands or names of the companies cannot be given at this stage.