News
Dec 05, 06Construction Start for Market Central Ferihegy
Budapest, December 5, 2006 – AIG/Lincoln announced the start of construction today for “Market Central Ferihegy”, a regional open-air shopping center with over 44,000 m2 of stores and featuring Tesco Hypermarket, Praktiker DIY (do it yourself), and 1,500 ground level parking spaces. The shopping center is located on a 16-hectare site on the border of Budapest and Vecses between Terminal 1 and 2 of Ferihegy Airport fronting onto Route 4 with direct access from a new, modern traffic interchange that will be constructed as part of the project. Construction will take ten months to complete with a planned opening in October 2007. The shopping center has been designed to meet the demonstrated demand of this booming regional market and the increased traffic from the recently opened M-0 extention. In addition to providing a convenient “out of town” shopping alternative along one of Budapest’s busiest traffic corridors, Market Central Ferihegy is expected to provide over 900 new jobs for this area. Market Central Ferihegy will establish a new shopping center format for the Budapest market. This open air center, known as a “Power Center” in the United States or a “Retail Park” in the United Kingdom, has become the most widely developed type of shopping center in those markets during the last five years. In contrast to enclosed mall shopping centers, Market Central offers a return to a more traditional town shopping environment with direct access from immediate parking to the shops of choice along a covered walkway. The format integrates the largest variety of retail shops possible ranging from the larger “big-box ”stores to smaller boutiques and cafés, Stores vary in size from 50 m2 to 15,000 m2 within the same integrated center. The Market Central name has been branded by AIG/Lincoln for its portfolio of open-air power center projects. These projects will provide a number of key advantages for retailers and customers alike. The main advantage is the larger store areas of the retail units, which provide retailers with the opportunity to market the most complete range of their products in one location. Other factors that maximize service to the customer include the prime location and direct visibility of the stores with immediate access and ample parking for the customer to conveniently shop at their chosen stores. Moreover the more extensive mix of merchandise provides the opportunity to reach a larger diversity of customers and new market segments. “We are pleased to develop this flagship scale project as our first Market Central shopping center in Hungary”, says Brian Jenkins, Managing Partner of AIG/Lincoln Retail Europe. “We are certain that Market Central Ferihegy will be the first of many successful retail developments by AIG/Lincoln in Hungary”, he added.