Futureal Group has started the construction of the Etele Plaza at the largest multimodal transport hub in the country. The shopping and entertainment centre with 54,000 m² of GLA is expected to open in 2020. The area can be accessed in only 10 minutes from downtown Budapest via direct links as it is being constructed in the meeting point of a national/international railway station, underground line 4 that connects the area with the inner parts of the city and the entrance section of the M1 and M7 highways that lead towards Austria and Croatia.
Etele Plaza is estimated to attract around 40,000 customers every day from the capital, the suburbs and the further towns that are easily accessible from the transport hub. The significance of the Etele Square where the new shopping centre will be located is indicated by the fact that the terminal of underground line 4, the regional/international train station and local/regional bus station welcome 165,000 passers-by a day. The immediate catchment area of the new centre is one of the most densely populated areas of Budapest, where some 235,000 people live. Residents of this district represent 125% of the nation’s average purchasing power with a relatively low retail supply.
The Etele Plaza will have a modern design with 200 store units, where, according to plans, the biggest fashion brands will be represented in a larger quantity and store area than anywhere else in Hungary. The centre will also feature a supermarket, restaurants, cafés, a multiplex cinema, a gym, a children’s play centre and a range of other services with nearly 1,300 parking lots. The most advanced location and navigation system will facilitate parking in the building by indicating empty spaces, it will also help customers to find the chosen stores or services through a mobile application.
The exterior design of the shopping centre will be dominated by the largest curtainwall structure of Hungary - with a height and width of 30 meters - above the main entrance and the retracted metal boxes that jump out from the facades. In the internal area, along with the soft tracing, a nearly 200 square meter interactive LED display interface will bring the latest generation of the shopping centre design to Hungary.
Futureal Group’s largest and iconic office development project, Budapest ONE Business Park in Ormezo, is in the immediate vicinity of the eco-friendly shopping and entertainment centre. The first phase of the office complex, with more than 65,000 m² of GLA will provide nearly 25,000 m² of office with 2,600 m² of commercial and service space, spacious green areas and 480 parking lots for the thousands of employees working in the business park. Budapest ONE was one of the firsts in Hungary to obtain the international WELL Building Platinum Precertification, which focuses on the aspects having beneficial impacts on employees’ health and well-being while designing the buildings.
"The construction of Budapest ONE and Etele Plaza will give a new momentum to the most important centre of South West Budapest. The unique shopping and entertainment centre will offer shopping possibilities that are currently unavailable in this area, in the heart of South Buda, but still only 10 minutes from the city centre. We paid particular attention to the requirements of sustainability and innovation while planning and designing the building, and Budapest’s first smart mall will be welcoming visitors with a customer experience never seen before,” said Tibor Tatár, CEO of Futureal.
