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«Estonia's first Marks & Spencer store will be opened in May in shopping centre Rocca al Mare, which is owned and managed by Citycon. Currently, Citycon has an extensive development and redevelopment project underway at the Rocca al Mare shopping centre. When completed, Rocca al Mare is Estonia's largest shopping centre. Citycon will invest a total of approximately 68 million euros in the Rocca al Mare development.
"Despite the challenging market situation, the letting of the new premises have been successful. The contract with top brand Marks & Spencer is obvious evidence of Rocca al Mare's attractiveness. The leasing rate at this point is over 90 per cent", declares Mr. Pekka Huttunen, Property Investment Manager from Citycon.
Dusan Mrozek, Managing Director, Marks & Spencer Estonia, says: "We're delighted to be opening our first store in Estonia. We've been looking to open a store in Tallinn for some time and are really pleased to have secured such a prime location that will allow us to bring Marks & Spencer products and services to a whole new group of customers. "
The first phase, of Rocca al Mare's extensive development and redevelopment project were opened in October. Marks & Spencer is the key anchor tenant in the new world of fashion constituted by the second development phase, to be opened in May. The development project consists of three phases and should be completed in November 2009. The leased area of Rocca al Mare will nearly double and the entire shopping centre will be renewed. When completed, the shopping centre will be the largest of Citycon's shopping centres in terms of its sales area.
The construction and the leasing of the new premises have proceeded to the agreed budget and faster than the original schedule. In addition to the positive development in sales, Citycon has been pleased with the increase in the number of customers at the shopping centre after the opening of the first new section.
Rocca al Mare is one of Citycon's pilot projects in sustainable construction. In this project, special attention is paid to environmental issues, such as recycling and energy consumption. Also, Marks & Spencer invests in sustainable development and pays attention environmental issues in the construction process. The area of the new Marks & Spencer store is approximately 1 500 m2.
Rocca al Mare in figures
Before After extension
Total area, m2 ~35,000 ~71,000
GLA, m2 ~28,000 ~54,000
Shops 106 ~170
Parking spaces 900 1 300
Marks & Spencer
Marks & Spencer is one of the UK's leading retailers, offering high quality, great value clothing, as well as home products and outstanding quality food. Marks & Spencer employs over 75,000 people and has over 600 stores in the UK and over 275 stores in 39 territories around the world. At its third quarter sales update on 7 January, Marks & Spencer announced sales in its international business were up 26.9%» (CS della Società).
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