Sendas forms partnership to invest in shopping center

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RIO DE JANEIRO (RJ), 19 de novembro de 2008 - A partnership among Grupo Sendas, the company Partage and ABL Empreendimentos e Participações holding company will take a low cost shopping Center and office towers on a 27,000-square-meter tract, to São Gonçalo (RJ), a neighbor of Niterói, in Greater Rio de Janeiro. The investment will be R$160 million (US$69 million) and the inauguration is scheduled for 2010. According to ABL partner-director Vicente Pierotti, the goal by then is to fill 100% of the 29,000 square meters of rentable space in the future Boulevard Shopping São Gonçalo.

The new commercial space, aimed at socioeconomic classes B and C, already has two anchor stores determined, Riachuelo and C&A. Other contracts already sealed, according to the ABL executive, include Ponto Frio and Ri Happy, all of them with space for megastores. There are also provisions for a bowling alley, a children's park, five cinemas and a mega sports store and a mega beer hall. Besides all this, there is space for 243 satellite stores. The building will also house a university and two towers with 700 commercial rooms, qualifying the undertaking as multi-use.

The aim is to foster synergies between retailing, teaching and offices. 'With respect to entertainment, our studies show that the region is very short of opportunities to have a beer in the open air,' commented the businessman. So, he said, the locale will have an open boulevard (European style) with open air common tables for 12 restaurants. The food area will also have provisions for 21 fast-food restaurants totaling 800 seats.

(Ana Cecilia Americano - Gazeta Mercantil)