US retail developer Mills Corporation has joined with Spanish company Xanadu to develop a major shopping and leisure project in Arroyo Molinos, south-west Madrid. An initial phase of 115,000m2 in a two-storey mall is proposed with a Hypercor, incorporating department store El Cortes Ingles and Spain’s first snow dome.
Mills is taking a two-thirds stake in the venture, with Xanadu, which controls the site, taking the remainder. According to Healey & Baker, letting agent for the scheme, further phases of retail and leisure, which are yet to be defined, will be market-led. The development is on the south-west corridor of Madrid’s N5 and has a frontage of 3km to the motorway.
In 1997, Mills Corporation teamed with Tishman Speyer Properties to combine its retail and leisure expertise with Tishman’s overseas development know-how and export the formula to Europe, but differences in approach stalled the venture.
