Emaar Properties has announced plans to extend The Dubai Mall – already the workd’s largest shopping and entertainment complex.
The company said that it is planning a Boulevard-style extension for exclusive fashion stores down a high street-style route, which will be linked to the main mall complex via the new link bridge rinning to the Metro station.
Emaar Properties said that the boulvard will be the highlight of a broader expansion that will also take in new commercial, residential and serviced apartment units.
Managing director Ahmad Al Matrooshi said: “The Dubai Mall has established its central identity in the global retail sector by serving as the ultimate choice of shopping and leisure for nearly 2.5bn people who are only a four-hour flying time from Dubai.
“We are now redefining the mall’s luxury lifestyle experience with the new expansion that will create a dynamic lifestyle hub in the heart of Downtown Dubai.”
He added: “With the mall expansion to feature a modern hotel, luxury homes and serviced residences, designed to the world-class standards associated with Emaar, we are further contributing to strengthening Dubai’s powerful growth drivers – the tourism, retail, hospitality and business environments. “Today, Dubai is the hub for business, leisure and tourism in the region, and our new expansion will establish the city as the world’s lifestyle capital.”
The firm said that it has now completed the masterplan for the expanded area and will soon start work on the multi-phase expansion.
The Dubai Mall currently has 1,200 stores and 160 food and beverage outlets, as well as an aquarium and underwater zoo. In 2011, the mall attracted 54m visitors, and visitor numbers for the first nine months of 2012 indicated footfall has increased by 15%.
Earlier this week, Emaar Properties and Dubai Holding were unveiled as partners in a multi-billion scheme to the build Mohammad Bin Rashid City a multi-billion dollar plan to build a new city containing an even bigger sghopping mall, a Unioversal Studios family theme park and a park that is one-third larger than Hyde Park in London.
