Retail developers intu and Eurofund announced in Cannes yesterday that they had agreed Heads of Terms with three major operators for its 235,000 sq m global resort project intu Costa del Sol in southern Spain.
The announcement follows from the €800m project receiving its General PGOU License (Plan General de Ordenación Urbana) in September.
Yelmo Films, trading as Yelmo Cines, has signed detailed Heads of Terms for a 9,500 sq m, 16-screen state-of-the-art cinema located in The Lakes area of the resort – one of its eight themed and designed neighbourhoods.
The second agreement is with San Diego-based Wave House International, which has signed detailed Heads for Terms for its surfpark concept – to be located in The Hood. Wave House’s concept will include a full-size 4,300 sq m surf pool, offering everyday surfing, special event competitions, a Wave Club and Surf School, as well as capacity for live music entertainment.
The third agreement is with Gran Teatro Bankia Príncipe Pío, Santiago Segura, José Mota y Luis Álvarez, trading as Gran Teatro Costa del Sol, for the resort’s theatre which is to be situated in The Lakes neighbourhood. Seating some 1,500 guests across two levels, the multi-purpose 4,000 sq m theatre is being designed to attract world class entertainment.
Speaking to MAPIC News, Ian Sandford, project director for intu Costa del Sol and president of intu’s JV partner Eurofund, said: “intu Costa del Sol will be Europe’s first world class a resort. We’re talking of it as alongside Dubai Mal, or Mall of America. It’s that type of scale.”
Sandford said that hospitality design specialist WATG had been brought on board to execute the Broadway Maylan masterplan because “we wanted designers from outside the retail sector” to create an environment based around hospitality.
“For me it’s not about the mix of uses, it’s about the guests. In a digitized world we need to give people reasons to come and then look after them,” he said. “That also involves a new management culture, because we don’t want this to be like a shopping centre and we want to embed this new philosophy throughout.”
The new European destination is set to begin construction in September 2020, with a projected opening of September 2023 and is positioned to the north of Torremolinos, 3km from Malaga’s international airport and is expected to attract 29 million visitors annually.
