Realtor Sobha opens mall in Thrissur.

The Bengaluru-based builder Sobha Ltd. is entering retail space leasing with the launch of the ₹170-crore Sobha City Mall recently.

It is the first venture of Sobha in the commercial space segment. The project is located over five acres at Sobha City, the company’s the first integrated township in Kerala.

JC Sharma, Vice-Chairman and Managing Director, said the company has plans to set up one more similar project in Bengaluru, which is likely to be operational in the next two years. More such projects are also in the pipeline in other cities where the company has got a land bank of 2000 acres, he added.

The mall has a built-up area of approximately 4,50,000 sq ft and three floors with retail, entertainment and recreation option with a six-screen multiplex.

Ravi Menon, Chairman, Sobha Ltd, said Thrissur has a vibrant atmosphere for organised retailing and the company hopes to scale up in this space in the coming years. More than 80 per cent of the space in the mall has been operational now and it would take another three months for full-fledged operations. The company is expecting a daily footfall of 20,000 in the initial days.

The mall’s location on the Thrissur-Guruvayur highway will make it accessible for people from Kochi, Kozhikode and Palakkad districts. It is pointed out that traders and business people in Kerala sell goods worth ₹1,200 crore daily. The State accounts for 22 per cent of total NRI remittance to India; especially Chavakkad in Thrissur district has one of the highest numbers of NRI’s, he said.

In reply to a question, Sharma said the downturn in the real estate sector has not affected the company’s performance, as it sold over 1.7 million sq ft in the first half of this fiscal, a 10 per cent growth in the corresponding period last year.

However, he expressed the hope that 2016 would be a reasonably better year for the realty sector in the country with signs of economic revival coupled with the implementation of the new pay scales for government employees.

HBL