Jerusalem's Malcha mall is Israel's new leading shopping mall according to "Globes" 2009 shopping mall top ten. Malcha, owned by Azrieli Group, displaced the Ramat Aviv Mall, which slipped down to third place. The Ramat Aviv Mall was recently sold by Africa-Israel Investments Ltd. (TASE:AFIL; Pink Sheets:AFIVY) to Ofer Brothers unit Melisron Ltd. (TASE: MLSR), which also owns the Kyrion Mall in Haifa Bay, which moved up to second spot in this year's rankings from fourth in 2008.
The Azrieli shopping mall in Tel Aviv stayed in fourth place, while Herzliya's Seven Stars Mall, owned by Israel Land Development Company (TASE: ILDC) moved up from seventh place to fifth place. Unchanged in sixth place is Azrieli Group's Ayalon Mall in Ramat Gan, the country's first-ever mall opened in 1985. In seventh place, down from fifth, is Eilat's Mul Hayam Mall, followed by Petah Tikvah's Hagadol Mall in eighth, the Rehovot Mall in ninth, up from twelfth. Rishon Lezion's Hazahav Mall and Haifa's Grand Canyon Mall tied for tenth place.
By size Jerusalem Malcha Mall with 37,000 square meters of commercial space is smaller than the second ranked Kyrion Mall with 42,000 square meters. However, the ranking is compiled by Globes by asking 38 leading Israeli retailers and experts in the sector to evaluate the best mall according to: size, sales per square meter, rent rates, number of shoppers using the mall, management standards and more.
The Ramat Aviv Mall, which has slipped to third place, is only 18,000 square meters in size, but has always been considered the country's flagship mall in terms of quality. It remains the most expensive mall in which to lease space at between NIS 250-800 per square meter. However, Jerusalem's Malcha Mall generated the largest rental income for its owners totaling about NIS 1 billion per year.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on November 17, 2009
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