Dubai’s Majid Al Futtaim Group, which has the Magic Planet chain of family entertainment centres, is to open two new high-profile locations in neighbouring Saudi Arabia, it has been announced.
The group will invest US$3.7bn in constructing two shopping malls in Saudi capital Riyadh. Both will contain Magic Planet FECs.
The Mall of Saudi, with 300,000sq.m of retail, will be Saudi Arabia’s largest shopping mall and will also house an indoor ski slope. MAF CEO Alain Bejjani said that, despite falling oil prices, Saudi Arabia represented “opportunities in challenges.”
Work on the mall will begin in the middle of 2017 with the first phase slated for completion by 2022.
Bejjani said that women would be allowed into the indoor snow park, despite the conservative country’s restrictions on gender mixing and women’s athletic activities. He said, however, that the company would defer to local regulations in this respect.
The second mall will cover 100,000sq.m and would be named City Centre Ishbiliyah, in the eastern part of Riyadh. It is to open in 2018.
