On Thursday 8 September Sonae Sierra hosted the traditional key delivery ceremony to Serra Shopping's future tenants. The new shopping and leisure center opens to the public on November 23rd, in Covilhã.
Representing a 27,6 million investment, the new center will create more than 800 jobs, and will be a major development pole for commerce and economic activities in the Beira Interior region.
The new shopping center is based on the expansion project of the Modelo da Covilhã supermarket. The construction work began in August 2004. The Serra Shopping makes available a total of 86 shops, with a GLA of 17.866 m2, 95% of which is already let, a proof of the enthusiasm surrounding this development in the region, allowing for the presence of the most prestigious national and international brands, complementing the 34 local tenants that represent 40% of the centers total GLA.
With a parking lot holding 912 parking spaces, 696 of which are indoors, the new center will have six large dimension shops, 65 satellite shops and 15 restaurants, featuring the presence of such prestigious brands as Oysho, Pull&Bear, Gato Preto, Kiddys, Springfield, Pizza Hut and Livraria Bertrand, among many others.
Set on a 25.375 m2 site, the new shopping and leisure center is located at Quinta do Pinheiro, Santa Maria parish, and has excellent access roads available, including the A23, road 18 and the Europa Avenue (formerly the TCT-Teixoso-Canhoso-Tortosendo axis).
The letting of the new center is the responsibility of Sonae Sierra and Cushman & Wakefield Healey & Baker.
An estimated 24,5 million in sales
According to a market survey, the Serra Shopping will welcome 4,1 million visits per year, an estimate based on a catchment area of bout 109 thousand people 30 minutes away by car and about 37 thousand 10 minutes away.
These figures point to a revenue of 24,5 million in the first year of activity, not including the food court and hipermarket food area sales.
Environmental safety and quality assured
Abiding to Sonae Sierra's policy for all shopping and leisure centers, the Serra Shopping will also observe the most rigorous and demanding safety standards set by the company, namely in terms of comfort, safety, access and environmental protection.
In what concerns environmental preservation, Serra Shopping obtained, during its construction stage, the ISO 14001 environmental certification, which refers to the management of the construction process. Issued by the BVQI, this certification is the result of the implementation of the best practises in environmental management during construction, defined in the scope of Sonae Sierra's Environmental Management System, which aims at minimizing the environmental impacts and promoting a continuous improvement of our performance in this area.
The new center boasts the most recent and sophisticated solutions in domains such as the separation and treatment of waste or water savings. The energy management and savings system is fully omputerized (BMS Building Management System).
In what concerns the safety of visitors and the building itself, the Serra Shopping will benefit from the most modern support systems, such as the automatic fire detection system (SADI), the closed circuit television surveillance system (CCTV), the automatic intruder detection system (SAI), the portable fire-fighting network (RIA) or the access control system.
Source: Sonae Sierra
