After nearly a decade in the making, Ahmedabad’s new large format mall with 7.5 lakh square feet of retail space will open to the public on Sunday. Palladium Ahmedabad, which will be located near Eklavya Sports Academy in Thaltej, will house 250 national and international brands.
The Rs 850-crore project is a 50:50 partnership between Phoenix Mills Ltd of Mumbai and B Safal Group of Ahmedabad.
“For many years, we felt there was a need for luxury retail space. “This mall will feature 35 luxury brands that will be making their first appearance in Ahmedabad,” said Himanshu Madanmohan, director of Safal Constructions Pvt Ltd. Kate Spade, Michael Kors, Hugo Boss, Coach, and Tumi are among the first-timers.
The city’s last large mall was the AlphaOne mall (renamed Ahmedabad One) in Vastrapur, which opened in 2011 and had 12 lakh square feet of mall space. Palladium Ahmedabad is opening at a time when at least four shopping malls or complexes in western Ahmedabad are suffering from high vacancy rates, and two others have been demolished and converted into commercial and residential projects.
“We have malls all over the country. We are witnessing unprecedented growth in the number of shopping malls… I believe the Ahmedabad market will pleasantly surprise us. People want a good shopping experience, and the moment you combine scale and experience, the city will be drawn to the mall. What you see (in Ahmedabad) are older plazas, some of which are still operational while others have closed; people haven’t renovated in years. “Why would anyone want to spend time in such places?” said Rashmi Sen, COO of Phoenix Mills Ltd, a BSE-listed company. Phoenix Mills currently operates ten malls in the country with a total area of 88 lakh square feet.
“Malls are no longer just places to shop. The mall’s luxury brands, food and beverage, and entertainment sections will be key differentiators,” Sen added.
H&M, Lifestyle, Marks and Spencer, Pantaloons, Max, and Reliance Trends are among the anchor tenants at the Palladium mall, which the developers claim is 95 percent leased. The mall has five floors, with the top two dedicated to food and beverages, which include restaurants such as Foo, Cha, Jamie’s Pizzeria, and Burma Burma, among others.
The mall will have state-of-the-art arcade games and entertainment experiences provided by Fun City, Time Zone, and Hamleys Play. PVR will have nine cinema screens with a total capacity of 1,300 seats, including IMAX and Luxe screens.
When it was pointed out that the mall has parking for 600 cars and is located at a busy intersection, a B Safal representative stated that the mall is in discussions with the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) and traffic police about “how to decongest” the area.