Construction for the Abu Dhabi mall is still ongoing in this current, very challenging retail environment.
Kuwait-based company Agility, which is one of a consortium of companies that is backing the mall, has revealed in a conference call that construction on Reem Mall is still ongoing, and finance is currently in place to continue and complete the project.
Ehab Azia, Group Chief Financial Officer said: “We try our best and we are working very hard to navigate through that. Construction is ongoing, financing I would say is in place to continue the project. From the delivery of product, I think that will take place and we will deliver the mall next year. In terms of leasing the mall – it is still at one third of the mall is pre-leased. We are working on a few initiatives, but these initiatives have been put on hold because of Covid.”
The extremely challenging current environment has certainly stunted the development of Reem Mall however the project is starting to see some traction coming back. The mall has announced plans to position itself as more of a logistics and e-commerce hub by introducing new technology and initiatives. The ever-changing retail climate and environment can be cited as a reason for this alteration in strategy.
