Alamanda Putrajaya upbeat about retail space take-up

Alamanda Putrajaya, the first shopping mall in Putrajaya, hopes to achieve full retail occupancy by December. 

The RM380mil two-storey shopping mall, with 700,000 sq ft of net lettable space, can house 180 retail outlets. The rental ranges from RM7 to RM35 per sq ft. 

“Currently, 69 retailers are operating in Alamanda and more are expected to open in a couple of weeks,” said senior retail manager Mohd Salleh Mohd Ali. The property is 100% owned by Putrajaya Holdings Sdn Bhd. 

Retailers had contracted for 80% of the lettable area in Alamanda, Salleh told reporters after the soft launch of the mall yesterday. 

The company expects the balance 20% of the lettable area to be taken up by the end of the year when the facilities at the shopping mall are completed. 

“We're targeting full retail occupancy after the grand opening of Alamanda in October,” Salleh said. Alamanda takes its name from a local flower. 

Mohd Salleh Ali and Emma Khalid

On the target market for the mall, marketing manager Emma Khalid said the primary market would be residents of Putrajaya. 

“But we plan to attract people from surrounding towns to Alamanda through various promotional activities,” she said, adding that the company would organise bus tours to the shopping mall from nearby towns like Kajang, Bangi, Sri Kembangan and Cyberjaya for a token fee. 

Khalid expects about 20,000 to 30,000 people to visit the mall a month in the first few months, rising to half a million visitors or more when it is established. 

Alamanda has a 26-alley bowling centre, cinema and child-care centre, and is built like a resort. 

“Accommodation will also be possible when our three-star hotel next to Alamanda is completed in 2006,” Khalid said. 

One of the main attractions of Alamanda is its own 8,000-sq-ft retail outlet, Archipelago, which showcases Malaysian home furnishing items, clothing, handicraft, knick-knacks, and accessories. 

The shopping mall's main tenant is Carrefour, occupying 150,000 sq ft. Other big tenants are Toy City (6,000 sq ft) and MPH bookstore, (4,500 sq ft).