By Our Reporter
The Arena Mall, located in Nsambya, has officially opened its doors to the public.
The 13,800 square meter mall features a tenant mix set retail showrooms, a supermarket, coffee shops, pop up markets, a state-of-the-art cinema, food court terrace, restaurants, banks, and general stores.
The mall opens with Carrefour, an internationally operated retail franchise opening its seventh store in Uganda as the mall’s anchor tenant. Other notable brands operating stores at the mall include LC Waikiki, Cafesserie and Frango among others.
According to Marc du Toit, the Head of Retail at Knight Frank who are the property managers, the mall is opening in phases starting at a 30% tenant occupancy, and is expected to reach full occupancy by Easter season in 2022.
“The Arena Mall will in the course of next year change the face of shopping in Kampala with an eclectic mix of international and national retailers. The southern part of Kampala will never be the same.” Marc du Toit noted.
The Arena Mall is owned as a joint venture between Chestnut Uganda Limited and South African asset managers, STANLIB.
Charles Odere, one of the board members at Chestnut Uganda Limited told media on Tuesday that they invested over USD 40 Million (about Ugx 144 Billion) in the project.
The construction of the mall started in November 2016, and was set to be commissioned in 2018. However, in 2018, the government halted the construction of the mall, saying the Kampala-Jinja Expressway would pass through part of the land occupied by the mall.
But after negotiations, the government agreed to divert the road.
The construction resumed in 2019 with new opening date set for March 2020. This would however be delayed again by the COVID-19 pandemic.
