The Second Aport mall Will Be Opened in Almaty by 2021
According to Dmitry Revin, Deputy Director-General of Eurasia RED for Investment and Development and co-owner of Aport Mall, the second 120,000-square-meter Aport mall will be built in Almaty for $65 million.
Almaty – February 19, 2020. The project, called Mall Aport East, will be financed from two sources – $15 million will come from Eurasia RED’s funds, and the remaining $50 million will be financed by a loan from Kazakhstani Halyk Bank.
The project is owned by the Eurasia RED local development company, which runs a portfolio of properties, including SAT business centers and Aport malls in Almaty. The ultimate beneficiary of Eurasia RED company is the Mukashev family. (In 2019, the family’s net worth was estimated by Forbes Kazakhstan of about $269 million, No. 24 of the list).
«In the eastern direction of the city of Almaty, the first construction work of the Mall Aport East project has begun. The second mall of the Aport network will be built in the area of the Halyk Arena sports complex and Almaty International Airport and will be the first business card to welcome guests to the metropolis. The launch of Mall Aport East is scheduled for spring 2021,» a Eurasia RED statement said.
According to Revin, the plot of land for Mall Aport East was purchased by the company in 2009 and its location is very promising. «In cooperation with Colliers International Kazakhstan, an international consulting agency, Eurasia RED conducted research that showed the potential of the future project: more than 1.5 million residents currently live in the Aport Mall East area.
Moreover, about 850 thousand square meters of housing is being built by local developers. Infrastructural changes in this development area have already begun. For example, the ‘airport ring’ [road junction] is under construction now, Eurasia RED press release notes.
The Mall Aport East project was designed by experts from MB architects, an international company providing architecture, engineering and design services. Among other foreign companies that consult Eurasia RED on this project are PwC, CBRE, KPMG and Norton Rose.
The main concept of Mall Aport East is of family vacations. Therefore, all spaces were distributed in the following proportions: 35% of the project area will be allocated for “smart vacation,» 50% for retail space and 15% for restaurants and services. There are also free parking lots for 2.5 thousand cars, a large “green” pedestrian zone and an area for active entertainment.
To date, over 80% of the Mall Aport East space has already been booked by Sulpak, Technodom, Kinoplexx, Hawaii Fitness, Sportmaster, and many other local retail companies.
«At the local neighborhood level, the new Аport project creates a modern infrastructure for several city districts. Almaty should become a city without outskirts – it is the general vision of Bakytzhan Sagintayev, head of the city,» Dmitry Revin explained.
The Eurasia RED top managers are very optimistic about the new project, citing the performance of the first Aport mall on Raimbek Street, which has been operating for ten years. According to company data, since opening, almost 100 million visitors have come to this Aport. At the moment, about a million people visit the mall every month.
«The current Mall Aport West is a place where well-known international brands are presented and where every family can have a very good time. Most of our guests visited the gastronomic space with five most popular cuisines; many visited the all-season water entertainment complex Hawaii and Miami Aquapark & SPA, and of course, children love to play in the Funky Town and Funky World amusement park,» Eurasia RED said.
Along with the start of construction, Eurasia RED announced the launch of Aport Oxygen, an updated environmental tree planting program for Almaty residents. If successful, this program is expected to be replicated in other regions of Kazakhstan.
