On 26 September Sonae Sierra has inaugurated shopping and leisure center 8ª Avenida in S. João da Madeira. 8a Avenida, which is the result of the expansion of the pre-existing Modelo Shopping Centre, opened its doors to the public on 27 September, 2007.
Representing an investment of €54,3 million, 8º Avenida is the 46th shopping and leisure center owned and managed by Sonae Sierra the 20th under operation in Portugal , and is an important step towards the modernization of the shopping and leisure offer in the S. João da Madeira region, where there is no other similar development.
With a GLA of 30,477 m², 8ª Avenida makes available a complete and wide-range offer of a total of 130 shops, including the 13 pre-existing in Modelo Shopping Centre. The development will feature a total of 8 large dimension shops: Continente hypermarket, Castelo Lopes cinema with 5 screens, and SportZone, Worten, Modalfa, Lefties and C&A shops. The offer is completed by 19 restaurants and 103 shops which will host several prestigious brands, such as Bershka, Pull & Bear, Kiddy's Class, Stradivarius, Women Secret, Springfield, Pré Natal, Lanidor, Zippy and United Colors of Benetton, among others. In the restaurant area, the highlights will be Pizza Hut, Pan's & company, Burger King, Loja das Sopas e Brasa Rio will be represented.
With 93% of the GLA already let, 17% of the total number of shops was let to S. João da Madeira tenants.
Located in an area of about 300,000 inhabitants, in a 20-minute catchment area, the 8ª Avenida will serve a far more numerous population, since it will attract people from the surrounding counties, which boast an important industrial area, and therefore expect a population growth in the coming years. The shopping and leisure centre is expected to have 5.7 million visits and estimated sales of 62 million in the first complete year of operation, excluding the hypermarket sales.
The architectural theme of this new shopping and leisure centre, designed by Sonae Sierra's team, lead by architect José Quintela, and Laguarda.Low, is based S. João da Madeira's regional codes the fashion industry, thus establishing an emotional attachment with the local community.
Built on a 27.620-m² site, the new shopping and leisure center, which began being built in April 2006, is located in one of the most important avenues of S. João da Madeira, Avenida Renato Araújo, and is served by several access roads, including the E-1 (through EN227) and IC1 (through EN227), besides the A1 and the IC2, two of the main roads of the country's northern region. The parking lot of the new shopping and leisure centre will be free of charge, with capacity for 1,700 cars.
According to Álvaro Portela, Sonae Sierra's CEO, "With the opening of 8ªAvenida, we reinforced our position as leaders of the Portuguese market, and we raise our offer to a total of 20 shopping and leisure centers under operation in Portugal, and 46 shopping and leisure centers in all countries where we operate. We believe that the opening to the public tomorrow is going to be an enormous success, and will aid the development of the S. João da Madeira region, thanks to the 1,000 new jobs and to the commercial and leisure offer created."
A Green Shopping Centre
Certified, in the construction stage, by the ISO 14001 environmental standard, the 8ª Avenida, abides to the most rigorous and demanding quality standards imposed by Sonae Sierra in all its developments, namely in terms of comfort, safety and environmental protection.
The certification, issued by Loyd`s Register Quality Association (LRQA), is the result of the implementation of the best environmental practices throughout the construction stage, defined in the scope of Sonae Sierra's Environmental Management System (EMS), which has the purpose of minimizing environmental impacts and promote the continuous improvement of the performance in this area, in accordance with Sonae Sierra's corporate responsibility policy. An example of the implementation of the EMS, is the recycling o
