• A $300 million, 6.5-acre mixed-use development is in the planning for Yangon, Myanmar. The project will feature that country’s very first Imax cinema. The retail portion is a joint venture between Myanmar’s CSD and Singapore-based New Asia Investments.
• Developer Omagine is at work lining up a Qatari backer to help finance the huge mixed-use project it plans to build along the Seeb waterfront in Muscat, Oman. An unnamed Qatari bank is looking at putting some $25 million toward the first phase of the development, which is to kick off this year. The project will contain retail space, hotels, restaurants, an amphitheater, some exhibition venues and residential space, as well as a harbor and marina.
• Retail development is set to accelerate across Europe this year, with nearly 10 million square meters (about 105 million square feet) set to come online, according to Cushman & Wakefield. Roughly 5.6 million square meters got added last year, bringing Europe’s total to about 152.6 million square meters, the firm says. Poland, Russia and Turkey will together account for approximately 60 percent of the new space, followed by France and the U.K.
• Despite Latin America’s slowing economic growth, retail real estate will continue to see robust growth in much of the region this year, analysts say. Developers are set to open about 100 malls across Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, Panama and Peru alone, according to industry associations in those countries. Meanwhile, international retailers continue to flock to the region, particularly in the fast-fashion sector. Euromonitor International predicts that retail sales across Latin America will reach $1.01 trillion this year, up 1.5 percent over last year.
• Stratford-upon-Avon, England, Shakespeare’s birthplace, is to get a new shopping center, courtesy of UK & European Investments. The shopping center will open in 2017 on the site of the soon-to-be-demolished Stratford Town Center, with restaurants, a cinema and a 14th-century bell that will be brought over from the old center.
• The city of Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, will hold its very first shopping festival this year. The 17-day festival is to kick off March 3 at the Sharjah Expo Centre, with some 300 traders participating. The neighboring city of Dubai holds a festival of its own each year.
• Mall project activity is buzzing in the Philippines, in the province of Cebu. SM Prime Holdings opened its 430,000 square-meter (about 4.6 million square feet) SM Seaside City Cebu, its largest mall outside Manila. Meanwhile, Robinsons Land Corp. is building its third mall there, while Ayala Land is redeveloping Ayala Center Cebu. Locally based Gaisano, too, is upgrading shopping centers in the province.