Light City’s anchor tenants to be finalised this year
George Town: IJM Perennial Development Sdn Bhd (IJMPD) wants a leading Hong Kongbased grocery store and a local cineplex chain to operate as anchor tenants in The Light City – a Rm4.5bil mixed development project located next to the Penang Bridge.
IJMPD general manager Tan Hun Beng told Starbiz that the company would finalise the deal with the anchor tenants before the year ends.
“We need to conclude the deal in 2022, as the 680,000 sq ft mall will be completed in early-2025 according to schedule.
“The anchor tenants will then have ample time to plan the concept, design, and theme of the 30,000 sq ft supermarket and 45,000 sq ft cineplex to provide a customer-friendly environment,” he said.
Tan said the company designed the mall to feature a variety of retail tenants rather than a single departmental store occupying a significant portion of the shopping centre.
“We want to ensure that the mall is a crowd-puller,” he said.
Tan added the grocery retailing segment has strong growth potential in the post-covid 19 environment.
According to Euromonitor International, the value of Malaysian grocery retailers will increase by 30% to Rm91.79bil in 2025 from Rm71.08bil in 2020.
“This is also another reason we opted for a grocery outlet as an anchor tenant,” he said.
The group is negotiating with several Asianbased companies involved in the food and beverage (F&B) and other retailing business to come in as anchor tenants for the shopping mall.
“Both the convention centre and the hotel will also draw the crowd to the retail mall,” said Tan.
IJMPD is a joint venture between IJM Corp Bhd and Singapore’s Perennial Holdings Pte Ltd which will oversee the project.
Tan added that since the soft launch in February 2021, IJMPD has sold 40% of the Mezzo residence.
The 30-storey residential component of The Light City, has 456 units, priced from RM900,000.
“A significant portion of our customers come from Singapore and Hong Kong, who are keen to invest because of the weakening ringgit.
“We have sold many units through online sales presentations,” he said.
IJMPD commenced work on The Light City in October 2020, and the construction is moving according to plan.
“The project will be launched in two phases, according to the pace of market demand.
“The current plan can accommodate more F&B outlets and possibly, an experiential themed park in phase two,” explained Tan.
Under the current plan, the first phase will have a mall with a 680,000-sq-ft net lettable area, the Penang Waterfront Convention Centre, a commercial tower comprising a four-star hotel with 500 rooms and offices, and the Mezzo residential condominium.
The second phase will have a 340,000-sq-ft net lettable area, a commercial tower, and the Essence residential condominium.
IJM Corp is one of Malaysia’s leading conglomerates with construction, property, plantations, industry, and infrastructure businesses.
It has operations in 10 countries, focusing on Malaysia, India, the United Arab Emirates, China and Indonesia.
Perennial is an integrated real estate and healthcare company headquartered in Singapore.
As a real estate owner, developer and manager, it focuses on large-scale, mixed-use developments. It has operations in China, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Myanmar and Ghana, with a combined portfolio spanning over 65 million sq ft.