TRANSFORMING THE RETAIL LANDSCAPE
International real estate group Lendlease is developing its largest integrated development in Asia–the new social heart of Kuala Lumpur, The Exchange TRX.
The Exchange TRX sits at the heart of the city-defining Tun Razak Exchange, Malaysia’s first international financial district modelled after Canary Wharf in London, Marina Bay in Singapore and the International Financial Centre in Hong Kong. The Exchange TRX will be a progressive retail destination that brings international placemaking designs and sustainability standards to Malaysia. Its retail partnerships will offer over 400 experience stores, spanning four levels, featuring new-to-market brands, statement stores and reimagined store formats. The Exchange TRX will be home to a wide variety of the dining concepts with unique food and beverage precincts—The Food Exchange introduces a modern twist to traditional Malaysian hawker food with live events, cooking shows and pop-up stores; an International Food Hall at Concourse Dining; a scenic al fresco Dining Terrace; and Park & Premium Dining surrounded by lush greenery and nature.
A distinct feature of The Exchange TRX is the 10ac rooftop public park that delivers an activated park experience, offering open spaces with cascading greenery into the retail, water features and beautiful shaded areas for quiet enjoyment, alfresco dining, multiple spaces for community and entertainment events, sports and children’s play areas.
We speak to Mitch Wilson, Project Director of The Exchange TRX and Head of Retail at Lendlease Malaysia, to find out what else we can expect from The Exchange TRX.
What are the concepts or features of The Exchange TRX that makes it stand out?
Lendlease’s strength lies in creating city-shaping developments that connect communities around the world, as seen in developments such as Barangaroo South in Sydney and
Elephant Park in London. As such, we are fortunate to have a global network of strong relationships with retailers from all over the world. With over 30 years of history here in Malaysia, we look to combine our knowledge and love of this country with our global best practices and, in doing so, showcase our signature approach to retail at The Exchange TRX—creating experience centers that are a combination of retail, entertainment and dining.
The Exchange TRX integrates with an elevated 10ac public park, offering both indoor and outdoor experiences—a city centre green heart that is a rare find in the Greater Kuala Lumpur district. The TRX masterplan’s high-quality infrastructure offers unparallel connectivity to the Klang Valley and beyond. Providing direct connection to the largest MRT station on the network, which will be the only interchange station between line 1 and 2. Travelling by car is made easy with direct access via the Smart Tunnel, MEX and the upcoming DUKE 3 highway, making The Exchange TRX a hyper-connected development.
What Is the retail mix of The Exchange TRX?
We aim to be the benchmark of lifestyle destinations in Kuala Lumpur that is on par with globally renowned destinations. While having a strong luxury positioning, with over 400 stores, there will also be wide variety of brands appealing to all.
Anchoring the retail offer is Malaysia’s first Seibu Departmental Store, taking up more than 250,000 sq ft of retail space spread over four levels. Featuring international luxury and lifestyle offers, Seibu will bring the first ‘depachika’ Japanese food hall to Malaysia. On the entertainment front, Golden Screen Cinemas will be unveiling an exciting concept that will bring immersive cinematic experience to a brand-new level. For those looking for gourmet grocery offers, Dairy Farm Group of Hong Kong will deliver an upscale supermarket with wide ranging offers to delight the most discerning palates. Food connoisseurs will be impressed with the five food & beverage precincts offering unique local and international culinary experiences with a premier dining space on the rooftop park.
What can retailers look forward to at The Exchange TRX?
The retail world is always changing, so we have designed The Exchange TRX with this in mind, aiming to take advantage of the strategic location and integrated nature of the master plan, as well as strong connectivity to develop a future ready place. We have invested heavily in technology to help guide us and our retail partners provide our customers the best customer service and experiences when they come to visit.
Like all our developments around the world, sustainability sits at the heart of everything we do at The Exchange TRX. With our retail partners, we aim to deliver the most sustainable retail experience in Malaysia.
Our location at the heart of Malaysia’s international financial district offers a high concentration of workers and residents with strong purchasing power and international outlook. Upon completion, the overall TRX development will have a workforce size of approximately 45,000 as well as over 3,800 residential units. This offers a hint of the opportunities and potential the development has to offer investors and retailers.
What are some of the new retail trends you see emerging in the post pandemic era and how have you adapted them at The Exchange TRX?
In 2022 and beyond, we expect to see more consumers use a combination of offline and online channels for their shopping needs; the industry will be looking at how to take the experiential dimension of retail into the digital space. An example of how we have integrated digital innovation is The Exchange TRX app, an interactive lifestyle app for our retail customers. Features of the app will include interactive Car Park Technology; F&B reservations, dine-in or delivery orders for restaurants; navigation around the precinct using accurate location positioning; and a digital concierge service to help with booking wheelchairs, baby strollers, and accommodating bag or luggage drops. www.theexchange.my