CITYCON OYJ Press release 5 May 2015
The first phase of the extension and (re)development project of IsoKristiina shopping centre, located in the city centre of Lappeenranta, will be completed and opened to customers on 7 May. In the first phase pre-opening, part of the premises will be opened.
Construction works for the remaining premises will continue until the autumn. The grand opening of the totally renewed and extended IsoKristiina shopping centre will be in October 2015. At that point, IsoKristiina will have a total of 34,000 square metres of leasable area and around 80 different shops and services. Currently, almost 90 per cent of IsoKristiina’s leasable area has been leased.
IsoKristiina shopping centre is equally owned in a joint venture by Citycon and Ilmarinen.
“Citycon’s strategy is to focus on urban locations of strong cities. Lappeenranta, a busy and growing university town, where we have been able to create an attractive city centre shopping centre, fits well in our asset strategy. We are also very pleased that we have been able to successfully carry out this project with our long-term partner and shareholder, Ilmarinen,” says Nils Styf, Chief Investment Officer at Citycon.
A unique feature of IsoKristiina is that the Lappeenranta City Theatre will be entirely located within the shopping centre. The theatre will open in January 2016. This is a unique solution, even on an international scale. In addition, the first-floor premises of the neighbouring Hotel Lappee are integrated with IsoKristiina. The shopping centre with is shops and services, the hotel and the new theatre constitute an appealing service entity that will attract shoppers, tourists and theatre-visitors from near and far.
IsoKristiina has a strong combination of services suitable for a city shopping centre. Excellent grocery stores and shops offering daily goods and services will bring a lot of daily traffic. The shopping centre will also house health care, several specialty shops and department stores, such as a brand new Marks & Spencer store. In addition, there will be a variety of cafés and restaurants. Next autumn will see the opening of Finnkino’s new cinema complex and Fitness 24/7 gym.
“Our aim has been to build in the city center of Lappeenranta a shopping centre that is close to people´s everyday life. IsoKristiina has good and strong international and national anchor tenants, but it also hosts excellent local stores” says Heikki Alén, Project Development Manager, Citycon.
Helsinki, 5 May 2015
CITYCON OYJ
For further information, please contact:
Nils Styf, Chief Investment Officer
Telephone +46 733 50 60 39
nils.styf@citycon.com
Citycon Oyj (Nasdaq Helsinki: CTY1S) is a leading owner, developer and manager of urban grocery-anchored shopping centres in the Nordic and Baltic regions, managing assets that total EUR 3.4 billion and with a market capitalisation of approximately EUR 1.8 billion. For more information about Citycon, please visit www.citycon.com