First Shopping Malls in West African Union

Moscow, Russia, March 05, 2015 --(PR.com)-- Soon the architectural landscape of West Africa will get even more diverse with some projects unique for this region, namely the shopping malls that will cover the area of 100 thousand square meters each. These projects are a part of the investment-development program of the international direct investment fund Hermes-Sojitz which under this program has already launched the construction of a first 65-storeyed sky-scraper and a 25-storeyed premium housing estate.

The first shopping mall will be commissioned by the end of 2016. It will cover an area of 110 thousand square meters, with the initial investment amounting to EUR 95 million. The mall will consist of four levels of commercial property and a parking area, located in a close vicinity to the central highway from Dakar to the new airport it will provide for a great traffic flow and accessibility by transport.

Oleg Yantovsky, the head of the Russian branch of Hermes-Sojitz and a member of Hermes-Sojitz’s Board of Directors, explains the reasoning behind the choice of the construction area: “The decision to start building such shopping malls in West Africa is based on the need to meet the market’s demand. Not only African companies would be the tenants, but also international corporations in food, furniture and household items retail, hardware stores, clothing chain stores and brand distributors. Currently there are few high-grade shopping spaces in Africa. Consumer demand is increasing from year to year, and many big companies which already have their representation in Europe and Russia are actively searching for new shopping spaces to expand their chains to Africa.”

Experts at Hermes-Sojitz fund predict that the pay-back period for this project would be twice as low as compared to developed markets.