74 malls under construction in Turkey: Report

ISTANBUL - Reuters

DAILY NEWS Photo

Some 74 new malls are currently being constructed across Turkey, with Istanbul boasting the biggest rise in square meters reserved for malls, according to a new sector report. 

Istanbul, which has 93 malls at present, is set to add 22 malls to its portfolio with new investments, according to a report conducted by the IT and consulting company Maptriks. 

Currently, there are 341 malls across Turkey, with top dog Istanbul followed by the capital Ankara with 33 malls, the Aegean province of İzmir with 21 malls and the southern province of Muğla with 13 malls.
Istanbul saw the construction of the most malls over the past five years, with 40 new malls. 

The total gross leasable area (GLA) of all Turkish malls is 9.83 million square meters. The largest GLA is reported in Istanbul, at around 3.64 million square meters, which represents 37 percent of the total GLA of all malls in the country. 

Due to new investments, the total GLA is expected to rise by 1.37 square meters in Istanbul, with major new investments expected in Istanbul’s European districts of Eyüp and Kağıthane. 

According to the report, a 401,456-square meter GLA rise is expected in Ankara, while in İzmir the rise is expected to be 325,220 square meters. In the northwestern province of Bursa, the GLA rise is expected to be 304,758 square meters, while the touristic resort of Antalya expects a rise of 235,500 square meters. Over the last five years, the number of malls rose from 99 to 142 in Turkey’s Marmara region, from 33 to 58 in the Aegean region, from 36 to 56 in the Central Anatolian region, from 22 to 31 in the Mediterranean region, from 13 to 26 in the Black Sea region, and from eight to 19 in the southeastern region. The lowest increase was in eastern region, from six to nine malls over the past five years.

There are currently no malls in 21 Turkish provinces, while 14 provinces have only one mall, according to the Maptriks report.