One million square meters
of malls in four years

Upcoming projects worth over $1 billion

In the coming four years, mall retail spaces will reach over one million square meters.

The 13 existing malls, including ABC Ashrafieh, City Mall, Beirut City Center, Beirut Souks, and the Le Mall chain total over 350,000 m2.

There are at least 14 upcoming malls expected to begin operations successively as of this year. These include Gibran Mall, Boulevard Mall, Cascada Village, The Spot Choueifat and The Spot Tayouneh. These alone total 500,000 m2.

The value of these new developments is $1 billion. According to Rony Aoun, CEO of the Shopping Mall Advisory Group (SMAG), a mall consultancy firm, large malls with Gross Leasable Areas (GLA) of above 40,000 m2, cost no less than one hundred million dollars. At least five upcoming malls belong to this category. Smaller outlets cost around $5 to $10 million.

According to Simon Khoury, COO of City Mall, the market is turning into a more mature business platform. The proliferation of projects within this industry might drive tourism indicators up. According to Maurice Torbey, Chairman of Inter Mall Group, the owner of Cascada Village in Bekaa, malls are intended to become a tourism attraction of the country, much as they are in Dubai.