Mesa to construct local theme park

ISTANBUL - Hürriyet

Mesa Chairman Erhan Boysanoğlu (L) and board member Aslı Tokatlı (R). Hürriyet photo

Turkey’s construction giant Mesa is planning to build a 1.6 million square meter theme park called “Tema Park” with a 200,000 square meter fairground, in Halkalı on the outskirts of Istanbul. The complex will also contain hotels and a shopping center, according to daily Hürriyet.

Mesa Chairman Erhan Boysanoğlu told daily Hürriyet that the project would cost roughly 1.9 billion Turkish Liras and that they had invited ten global architecture firms to compete for the design.

“U.S. Gensler Architects & Planners’ project won first place,” Boysanoğlu revealed. He also said that Tema Park would have the capacity to accommodate 25-28 million visitors per year and will be completed in a number of stages by 2016.

Boysanoğlu told Hürriyet that the project was inspired by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who said that he had seen a similar entertainment center in Hannover, Germany, and wanted to bring the idea to Turkey.

The project envisions a 198,600 square meter shopping center, a 200,000 square meter closed fair ground and 40,000 square meter open fair ground, three hotels with a total 1,050 rooms, a conference center with the capacity to accommodate 1,200 people and a 380,000 square meter theme park. One of the hotels will also have a theme concept.