Silk Road Holdings has successfully acquired its latest designer outlet development site, this time in the Pudong New District of Shanghai. Located between China’s first Disneyland and the Pudong International airport, it will offer an unparalleled range of designer brands at discounted prices to the fashion-savvy Shanghainese, and is expected to be a major tourist attraction for the region. Silk Road Holdings intends to open the Shanghai project as well as a Florentia Village in Guangzhou before the end of 2014.
Silk Road Holdings is the joint venture team responsible for the iconic Florentia Village Jingjin Designer Outlet Centre in Wuqing between Beijing and Tianjin, which opened mid-2011 and has since set the benchmark for outlet shopping in China. Silk Road Holdings ventured further south with their second site purchase in Guangzhou last December, which is all part of a strategy to replicate the success of the Florentia Village Designer Outlet concept in multiple gateway cities across China over the next few years.
'Florentia Village Shanghai' – will offer ca.54,000 m² of Designer Outlet shopping, and boast over 200 premium Italian, international and Chinese brands. The outdoor pedestrian retail scheme will extend over one and two storeys and across several distinct shopping environments. Florentia Village Shanghai will blend classical Italian architecture of the Florentine and Venetian style, with an unmatched roster of original luxury brands to create a designer experience par excellence, whilst offering permanently discounted prices all year round. Development work is expected to commence in second half of 2013 in time for completion by late 2014. Florentia Village Shanghai promises a truly international experience with brands like Prada, Gucci, Burberry, Ferragamo and Bottega Veneta, and will be a major addition to the designer shopping landscape in Shanghai.
Silk Road Holdings shareholders include the Italian Fingen Group of the Fratini Family, the Luxemburg based China Outlet Mall controlled by Jacopo Mazzei, Gaw Capital Partners from Hong Kong, the Sino-US Waitex affiliate as well as a major US institutional investor. Silk Road is advised by RDM Asia (the real estate development company of the Fingen Group in Asia) as operating and development partner alongside Henderson Global Investors as investment advisor. Together the team brings an unprecedented degree of international outlet expertise, luxury retail network, development capability and local market knowledge which has established a new benchmark for the China luxury outlet sector in terms of design, brand representation and consumer experience.
Commenting on the latest site acquisition, Jacopo Mazzei, CEO of RDM Asia says: “The acquisition of the site in Pudong is fantastic news that allows the opening in 2014 of an outstanding Florentia Village in Shanghai to serve millions of customers with the top International and Chinese brands. This is a fundamental milestone to establish Florentia Village as the leading brand in the Luxury Outlet Mall business in China.”
Howard Li, CEO of Waitex Group of Companies adds: “Florentia Village is a wonderful destination for millions of Chinese consumers and tourists for shopping, leisure, entertainment and fine dining. It tremendously contributes to domestic spending and economic growth. We deeply appreciate the government’s continuous support for this successful project. This is the perfect example that China is one of the best places for foreign investment and business opportunities in the world.”
Chris Reilly, Director of Henderson Property Asia, adds: "Shanghai presents a golden opportunity with luxury brands already expressing great interest in the scheme. Success in Shanghai will be driven by the high levels of customer affluence and greater brand awareness coupled with the attractions of the FV scheme in this great location.”
Source: Henderson
