BY CHERYL POO
PETALING JAYA: WCT Holdings Bhd has secured tenants for 50% of lettable space in its Paradigm Mall JB.
“Within another month or two we will see many more names now that we have signed on these four anchor tenants,” Robert Jalil tells StarBiz at a press conference at the launch of the 2 million sq ft mall with net lettable space of about 1.3 million sq ft.
The four anchor tenants are Sogo (KL) Department Store, Golden Screen Cinemas (GSC) , which would set up a 16-screen multiplex, Village Grocer and an operator of a 20,000 sq ft ice-skating rink and an indoor rocknasium. The four tenants will take up 200,000 sq ft, 60,000 sq ft, 30,000 sq ft and 20,000 sq ft of space, respectively.
Targeted at locals and Singaporeans, Paradigm Mall JB will feature six storeys over 13 acres fronting the Skudai Highway.
Food and beverage tenants would take up about 20% of the tenancy mix, and fashion would take up 30% while the rest would be miscellaneous shops.
Comprising a residential portion and a hotel, the integrated commercial development will comprise a 296-room four-star hotel and a 263-unit service apartment, which upon completion by the third quarter next year, will set it as the state’s largest regional mall.
“We are in talks with New World among other hotel operators for this hotel,” WCT chairman Datuk Captain Ahmad Sufian said.
The project will have a total gross development cost of RM1.5bil, and the mall is expected to be opened to the public in the third quarter ofnext year.
Sogo, Jaya Grocer and GSC said they would replicate their concept and successful business models in Kuala Lumpur at the Paradigm Mall JB.
“The property market may be down for now but in business there is always a cycle. We cannot be out of business when the market is down. Our strategy to go big on malls is to mitigate the economic uncertainty and spread open our earnings,” WCT managing director Taing Kim Hwa said.
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