Shopping Centers Today is the news magazine of the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC)
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impact and a cultural identity," he said. "If you designed the most energy- efficient building in the world, stuck it in the middle of the desert and nobody went to it, it's not sustainable." One project about which Kitson feels special professional pride as a de- sign consultant is The Avenues mall, in Kuwait, a joint development of Ku- waiti real estate developer Mabanee and the Dubai-based NORR Group Con- sultants International. Working with U.S.-based engineering consultant firm Gensler, Kitson's firm helped the devel- opers devise "a pretty spectacular shop- ping experience for people," a design that focuses on environmental condi- tions inside the mall as well as the proj- ect's surrounding landscape, he says. In one restoration project, architects tasked with redesigning the centuries- old Souk Waqif, in the heart of Doha, drew on engineering studies showing how to reconfigure the narrow streets with shadow-casting colonnades and describing the best places to use local- ized air cooling at the foot-traffic level — without having to build a dome roof overhead. That helped to preserve the marketplace's traditional appeal. A similarly noteworthy development is the ambitious Madinat Jumeirah, in Dubai, a 5-star resort project of Mirage Mille and Dubai Holding Group. "It's definitely got some modern technol- ogy in there, but they've based it on the old traditional souk," said Kitson. "It's a good mix of modern and old. I think it's one of the most successful retail ex- periences in Dubai. It's fantastic." M a j i d A l F u t t a i m g a v e t h e 54,000-square-foot cinema at City Centre Beirut, which opened last year, a green roof that not only helped earn LEED Gold but also enabled the firm to meet the requirement of the Lebanese planning authorities that 25 percent of the site be green. This is "a tough chal- lenge at an urban site," said Al Zubi. There is certainly room for many more such developments in the MENA region, as Jones Lang LaSalle points out in a sustainability report it published last year. "While there has been increased talk about the importance of creating more sustainable buildings and cities within MENA, progress on converting this talk into concrete action contin- ues to lag behind that in more mature markets," the report reads. "The UAE remains the clear market leader within the Middle East, with a much lower awareness of the need for more sustain- able buildings elsewhere in the region." But Kitson continues to strike an optimistic beat for these efforts throughout the region. He recalls that when he arrived in the Middle East roughly 10 years ago, developers were rather relaxed about sustainability, placing little priority on even getting projects LEED certified. "It was more like: 'You know what? Let's just get the thing built,' " he said. "But now they're all pretty serious about it." SCT REDEVELOPMENT financing INCOME GROWTH MIXED-USE DEBT capital EQUITY INCOME GROWTH capital INCOME GROWTH capital INCOME GROWTH INCOME GROWTH capital INCOME GROWTH INCOME GROWTH sustainability CAPITAL INVESTMENT CAPITAL CAPITAL VALUATIONS INCOME GROWTH INCOME GROWTH INCOME GROWTH INCOME GROWTH INCOME GROWTH MARKET SHARE MIXED-USE capital capital market share SUSTAINABILITY FINANCING mixed-use redevelopment valuations STRATEGY investment returns INCOME GROWTH debt EQUITY ICSC NOI+ ASSet MANAgeMeNt CONfereNCe Best Practices for Improving Value in Shopping Centers November 20 – 21, 2014 • Chicago Marriott Downtown • Chicago, IL #ICSCNOI the NOI+ Asset Management Conference is the event for industry professionals to learn best practices for improving value in shopping centers. With many decision-makers from all types and sizes of shopping centers in attendance, we drill down to the latest issues affecting net operating income (NOI), and what developers need to know about how retail real estate is increasing NOI for the properties in their portfolio. Conference Highlights • fireside Chat with Barry Sternlicht & Scott Wolstein of Starwood Capital group • Panel Discussion with Industry Leaders • 5 Interactive Concurrent Session Workshops • 20 Breakfast roundtables • 12 Boardroom Discussions • 2015 Outlook for Digital retail For more information visit www.icsc.org/NOI O c t O b e r 2 0 1 4 / S C T 65