New lease of life for Al-Futtaim Festival projects

Al-Futtaim Group Real Estate (AFGRE) has hired Philip Evans as its director of Retail Leasing.

Evans is primarily responsible for directing a strategic approach to retail leasing for Dubai Festival City and Cairo Festival City.

Spanning three million m², Cairo Festival City is a visionary mixed use urban community strategically located just 15 minutes from Cairo International Airport.

Featuring Egypt's first indoor-outdoor retail and entertainment resort combined with luxury residential communities, the project will boast prime office spaces, internationally renowned hotels, schools and an automotive park set within a landscaped environment.

With more than 25 years of leasing and asset management experience across markets including Jordan, Greece, Turkey, Cyprus, Romania and Bulgaria, Evans previously worked as a partner with global real estate consultant Cushman & Wakefield.

During his career, he has been a main board member of the British Council of Shopping Centre (BCSC) and vice chairman of the Greek Committee of the International Council of Shopping Centres (ICSC).

"I am delighted to have joined ATGRE at a time when the company is expanding the Festival City brand in the MENA region," said Evans. "The focal point of these developments is Festival Centre, the retail, dining and entertainment component," he said.

According to Evans, AFGRE's intention was to "position the Festival Centre brand as one which delivers shopping centres of excellence through introducing new and vibrant retailers to the tenant mix and delivering an outstanding customer experience."

Evans is currently in negotiations with high-end department store brands to anchor the 650,000ft² Festival Centre Luxury Collection extension at Dubai Festival City, which links into the prestigious Four Seasons Hotel.

Dubai's Festival Centre is also set to expand its Big Box retailer offer by 20 outlets ranging from 3000ft² to 25,000ft².

The newcomers will join existing household brands IKEA, HyperPanda, Plug-Ins and ACE hardware.

He is also in final negotiations with key anchor stores, a cinema operator and hypermarket for the 1.8 million ft² Festival Centre at Cairo Festival City and will invite expression of interest from line shops in early 2009.

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