The Hindu Business Line : Chennai suburbs may soon wake up to malls

THOUGH Chennai was considered the retail capital of the country, mall development here had been rather slow. But this would soon change with a number of developers planning to set up malls.

At present the city has only one large mall, Spencer Plaza. The preference in Chennai seems to be for high streets, said Ms Manju B. Pundir, Manager-Research & Consulting, South, Chesterton Meghraj, international property consultants.

Chesterton Meghraj had done a retail mapping of nine cities including Chennai for the Delhi-based DLF. The study would show the potential for retail in each of these cities.

One of the main reasons why malls have not taken off inside the city is the non-availability of large parcels of land. Ms Pundir said that to develop a good mall, at least four to five acres were required. The other essentials are frontage and access. There should also be provision to park at least 1,000 cars, she said.

The malls that are likely to come up are in the planning stages in suburban areas such as Velachery, Porur and Perambur. A mall in Velachery would cater to the East Coast Road and the Old Mahabalipuram Road .

Ms Pundir said that residential units are likely to expand towards Vandalur and Porur with Tambaram becoming an integral part of the city.

Other than a mall on Radhakrishnan Salai, which is under construction, the Ampa Mall on Nelson Manikam Road is in the execution stage.

Mr N. Ananthanarayanan, Chennai Head, Chesterton Meghraj, said that the total area would about 2-lakh sq ft and the investment in the mall is between Rs 60 crore and Rs 80 crore.

The building will have five floors with Giant Hypermarket as the anchor store and PVR Multiplex from Delhi, one of the largest operators of multiplexes in the country, on the fourth floor.

Retailers like Madura Garments, Westside and Globus have shown interest for space in the mall. The fifth floor will have rooms, he said. Like all other malls there will also be smaller, non-branded stores and a food court.

Ms Pundir said that other malls in the planning stages were by developers from Delhi and Pune. These malls are inside large townships, which have all the amenities. The 70-acre residential township being developed in Perambur by the Pune-based Runwal group is one such.

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