Cairo Festival City Mall Wins Best Built & Future Retail Project in Middle East

By Adriana Pop, Associate Editor

At The Real Estate In The Middle East 2013 Award Ceremony held on March 29, Cityscape Awards announced Cairo Festival City Mall as the winner of the Best Built & Future Retail Project award.

5+design of Hollywood, Calif. is the designer of the indoor-outdoor retail resort, an architecturally striking masterpiece located at the heart of Cairo Festival City in New Cairo.

Upon completion, the new development will provide a gross leasable area of approximately 1.8 million square feet. The shopping center’s tenants include 17 international flagship stores such as IKEA, White House and Marks & Spencer; more than 310 shops, services, restaurants and cafés; a 17-screen Renaissance Cinemas complex; a Carrefour Hypermarket and a massive parking structure with more than 7,000 parking stalls.

The outdoor restaurants, retail establishments and terraces will be positioned around an all-new dancing lake, offering visitors a sense of community.

“Cairo Festival City Mall will be Egypt’s first fully-integrated indoor-outdoor shopping center,” said 5+design partner, Michael Ellis. “The premier retail and entertainment destination in Cairo when it opens later this year.”

Cairo Festival City Mall will be part of Cairo Festival City, a mixed-use urban community located just 15 minutes from the Cairo International Airport, near the districts of Maadi to the south and Heliopolis, Nasr City, Mokattam to the west.

Developed by Al Futtaim of Dubai, the master-planned development will offer luxurious villas and apartments within spectacular residential gated communities, as well as business districts, internationally renowned hotels, an international school and an automotive park.

Upon completion, Cairo Festival City is expected to host more than 13,000 residents and about 50,000 office employees. Last year, the mixed-use development received the Cityscape Egypt Real Estate Award for best future residential project.