The Medine group has announced a massive investment of 2.6 billion rupees (51 million euros) in the extension of Cascavelle Shopping Mall, a project that aims to make the shopping centre one of the ‘crossroads’ of the West, in the words of the group’s managing director Dhiren Ponnusamy. Although work on the project began several months ago, it was officially launched on 11 July. The works will triple the shopping centre’s current surface area by adding 19,500 square metres thanks to a new wing to the rear of the existing building. Work is due to be completed by the end of 2025, and the new wing will be home to around sixty new tenants.
Photo (DR): What the shopping centre should look like in the near future in the middle of a network of new roads and in the centre of several residential areas developed by Medine.
‘Our vision for the extension of Cascavelle Shopping Mall is part of a global approach to the development of the western region,’ explains Dhiren Ponnusamy, CEO of the Medine Group. ‘We are creating ecosystems to design attractive places to live and work, integrating healthcare, education, green spaces and sports and leisure facilities’, he added, stressing the importance of this initiative in strengthening “The West” territorial brand, which promotes the West as a destination of choice for potential residents and visitors.
The first phase of the expansion has already seen the opening of a Mr. Bricolage shop last April, a leading French DIY retailer. The new wing, designed by Architects Studio, is inspired by a tropical atmosphere, will incorporate more greenery and will offer beautiful sea and mountain views. A new central square, featuring green spaces and leisure facilities, will become a major focal point of the shopping centre. To accompany this expansion, major road improvements are planned and 1,200 parking spaces will be created. A major clinic, built by a private developer, will adjoin the shopping centre; work has already begun.
Joël Bruneau, Managing Director of Medine’s Real Estate division, pointed out that the shopping centre is in a strategic position: ‘The region is experiencing demographic growth, with many residential projects under development’. Medine has put up for sale and is developing several residential parcels in the vicinity of the existing shopping centre, within a five-kilometre radius, thereby expanding the shopping centre’s future catchment area. Opened in October 2011, Cascavelle Shopping Mall attracts around 200,000 visitors a month to its 60 shops.
