Iskandar Investment launches Medini North

19 October 2009 , By property-report.com

Iskandar Investment Berhad, developer for Iskandar Malaysia showcased its new lifestyle retail mall, Medini North at The International Council of Shopping Centers Asia Expo (ICSC Expo) at Suntec City, Singapore from 14-16 October.

Situated in an upcoming development area of Iskandar Malaysia, Medini North covers an expansive area of 1 million gross square foot (gsf) or over 21 acres. Here to promote the project, Rosenah Hassan, chief executive officer of Iskandar Harta Holdings Sdn Bhd (a wholly-owned subsidiary of Iskandar Investment Bhd) who is in charge of the group´s lifestyle development portfolio stated: "The Medini North is a lifestyle development that will comprise a mall; two hotels, one of which is a LEGOLAND themed hotel and the other a business hotel; two office blocks; and one home centre. We engaged DTZ Research this year to conduct surveys with consumers from Singapore and Malaysia and they came up with a report consisting catchment forecasts."

"Instead of making a high-rise mall, we intend to keep it low as we deduced from the survey results that consumer traffic gets quieter, the more higher the mall. This is not good for the retailers. We have lots to offer that includes entertainment, F&B and shopping and there would be a higher ration of entertainment and F&B compared to a normal mall as we want to complement the LEGOLAND theme park," she stated.

The mall´s development cost is around RM500 million while the LEGOLAND themed park hotel is around 200 million. The Malaysian government has provided investors with fiscal and non-fiscal incentives that includes 10 years of tax exemptions for those who fall within the targeted sectors for growth (such as leisure tourism, financial, wellness, logistics, creative and education) in Iskandar Malaysia. Said Hassan, "We are targeting locals and foreigners alike that includes Malaysians and Singaporeans to come to Medini. Also, we are looking for an increase in the population by a further 500,000 for Medini by 2020."

To date, Iskandar Malaysia has more than US$13 billion in committed funds from government bodies and international investors. Iskandar Investment expects an additional $2 billion in investments over the next two years, including the expected US$300 mil in retail investments it hopes to announce over the next few months.

Medini, Iskandar Malaysia is flagship 2,300 acre development which is the culmination of visions by the Federal and Johor State governments and their strategic partners, Iskandar Investment Berhad, Mubadala Development Compnay, Aldar Properties, Kuwait Finance House and Millennium International Development.