Sobha Developer ditch mall project

Mall developers such as Sobha Developer are looking to review its projects owing to shortage of funds. In Bangalore, the realty firm is converting a proposed hospitality and retail project into a mixed-use development with residential and commercial units.

The Rs1,500-crore project, a joint venture with Davanam Constructions was expected to have a mall, a hotel and the country’s first ice-skating rink spread over 26 acres in the western suburbs of Bangalore. The project would have marked Sobha’s entry into mall development and was seen as a precursor to the firm rolling out a string of malls in Delhi, Mumbai and Pune.

Less than 100 malls will open in 2010 out of a total of 800 malls that were being planned across the country, according to a report by Shopping Centres Association of India and retail consultancies Jones Lang LaSalle Meghraj (JLLM) and Cushman & Wakefield India.