Argo Real Estate Opportunities Fund is pleased to announce it successfully opened its the Riviera Shopping City, in Odessa, Ukraine. Riviera is a destination retail and entertainment shopping center with a total built area of some 85,000 m² and leasable area of approximately 65,000 m².
Riviera attracted 200,000 shoppers in its first three days of operation and its retailers made over 70,000 individual sales; an outstanding result for this new landmark shopping center, demonstrating the strength of its tenant mix and strategic location.
The shopping center, which will open in two phases, opened its first phase featuring anchor tenants Real Hypermarket, OBI DIY, Zara, Comfy Electronics and Eurasia Furniture Superstore. Other tenants include Pull and Bear, Bershka and Stradivarius, Mango, and many more. In addition, Riviera has an extensive food court offering a wide range of destination restaurants, cafes and fast food outlets. Phase one of Riviera encompasses over 80 stores and some 50,000 m² of leasable area.
Phase two of the development, comprising some 15,000 m² of leisure, family entertainment and retail will be completed at the end of 2009 and will make Riviera into Ukraine's largest shopping and entertainment complex.
This phase will open in the first quarter of 2010 and will provide a great balance between retail and entertainment for all ages. Included in the development is a nine-screen, IMAX multiplex cinema, a 16-lane CITI Bowling alley and entertainment center, Kids Zone and Go Karting in the parking area.
Getting to Riviera is made easy due to its close proximity to the largest residential community in Odessa, excellent transport links and its own bus service with 18 buses running for 12 hours each day providing direct access from key destinations all around the city every half hour. In addition, a newly-constructed road links the highly populated Kotovskovo district directly with the shopping center, bringing Riviera within some 10 minutes of up to 300,000 local residents.
Robert Provine, Manager Argo Capital Management Property, said: "We are delighted to see the overwhelming response from the public to the opening of Rivera and are proud to have delivered this important project during a difficult economic climate. I believe the fact that we are able to launch at this time reflects well on Riviera's strong appeal to retailers and entertainment operators, as a modern, high quality development in an area which is currently undersupplied. We would also like to thank our local partner, DGL Group, for their support in delivering Riviera which will be the largest shopping complex of its type in the Ukraine and has created over 2,500 jobs for the local economy."
Source: Cardew Group
