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Aldar Investment announced an AED 500 million redevelopment plan for Yas Mall to reinforce the asset’s position as the centerpiece of Yas Island, Abu Dhabi’s fast-growing residential and leisure destination. The substantial investment will enhance the customer journey by reimagining the mall’s spaces and introducing new innovative retail concepts. The redevelopment will further enable Aldar Investment to deliver a unique and diversified offering to tenants and customers by repurposing 40 percent of its gross leasable area to high impact experiential retail, F&B, and co-working office spaces. Work on key areas of the mall is already underway and will be completed in phases over 12-18 months.
Despite the unprecedented challenges presented by the pandemic, Aldar has maintained steady footfall across its retail portfolio, while upholding the health and safety of its employees, customers, retailers, and the communities it serves. The redevelopment will expand the mall’s F&B offering by 40 percent, introducing a variety of F&B brands in addition to a new food hall and outdoor terraces to be located at the North Entrance, which will include a wide mix of local and international brands. Situated in the heart of Yas Mall, the revamped Town Square will offer an alfresco inspired dining experience with clear views of events and activations.
The Boulevard connecting Yas Mall with Ferrari World Abu Dhabi and CLYMB Abu Dhabi will become an all-new sports hub, showcasing the world’s best sports brands with five unique concept and experiential stores. The plan will increase the health, beauty, and jewelery categories, and the mall will welcome several international fashion brands including the first Urban Outfitters store in Abu Dhabi, Kendall & Kylie and technological footwear brand Duozoulu. Yas Mall will add a home furnishings district, introducing stores such as EBarza and Ethan Allen for the first time in Abu Dhabi. New flagship stores will also be introduced, offering unique brand experiences and showcasing the latest trends.
The redevelopment will add a total of 15,000 sq.m. of office space to Yas Mall. This includes the recently launched Cloud Spaces, a co-working space designed as a differentiated business concept, which marks the first milestone in the redevelopment. The project will improve the customer journey within the mall, supported by the introduction of ‘way-finding’ technologies as well as an interactive digital art screen which will replace the Water Fountain in Town Square. There will also be a refurbishment of the parking areas, entrances, and welcome desks to further enhance the customer experience.
As part of Yas Mall’s commitment to the environment, it is introducing a customized composter transforming food waste to bio-soil that will be used in 115,000 sq.m. of the mall’s landscape. In addition, 60,000 lamps will be replaced with LED lighting across the mall. These changes will reduce Yas Mall’s carbon footprint by 59 tons per year and improve the mall’s recycling rate from 30 percent to 40 percent. As part of Aldar Investment’s commitment to the community, the redevelopment plan will include additional features to make the mall fully accessible to People of Determination. Yas Mall was recently awarded a Certificate of Gold by The World Disability Union to honor disability-friendly organizations.