Espoo, Finland, 2016-11-24 08:00 CET (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- SRV GROUP PLC PRESS RELEASE 24 NOVEMBER 2016, AT 9.00
REDI will bring experiences to the shopping centre
The REDI shopping and experience centre, implemented by SRV in Kalasatama, Helsinki, and due to open in 2018, will take Finland’s shopping centre market into new era, offering not only a comprehensive retail offering but also new and surprising leisure-time options. The REDI shopping centre will, for example, provide opportunities to experience the thrill of flying as well as a 7D virtual theatre that stimulates all the senses and where movie action is made real through virtual glasses and motion simulators.
“A change is taking place in Finland’s shopping centre market. Shopping centres are increasingly becoming meeting places where visitors want to have fun and stay longer. People are also seeking experiences and entertainment there,” says SRV’s Pia Svensk, Director of Retail Concepts, REDI.
The experience of flying at REDI will be offered by the free-fall simulator FÖÖNI, where you can fly and move in a stream of air using your own body. The project is unique due to its shopping centre location.
“This activity is growing fast throughout the world, but similar simulators are invariably to be found in separate buildings and located far from city centres. Now, with the REDI shopping centre, we have an opportunity to bring the activity within everyone’s reach. The simulator will be open to everyone, from children to adults, and it is also suitable for people with restricted mobility and real enthusiasts of the sport. In flying mode, the air stream moves at up to 300 kilometres per hour, and the public can view the flyers from close at hand through a five-metre high glass wall. Passers-by in the shopping centre will also be able to follow the flyers,” explains Lentotehdas Oy’s Sami Juutinen, who is responsible for the project.
Climbing, cafés and street food
The shopping centre will have over 200 shops and restaurants, and REDI is expected to reach up to 12 million visitors or more in its first full year of operation. REDI’s entertainment world has its own entrance, enabling longer opening hours than the shopping centre – also for those wishing to enjoy the delights of flying or the 7D virtual theatre. REDI will also be home to a climbing centre. The climbing centre will have a 1,000 square metre training area and a 20-metre high climbing wall. Finland has around 50,000 climbing enthusiasts and the REDI climbing centre is expected to attracted 100,000 visits per year.
The leasing of REDI’s coffee and restaurant facilities has gone well. The shopping centre’s 38 restaurants, cafés , bars and take-away points, representing a total of up to 3,500 customer places, have already been reserved. According to Svensk, companies particularly value the shopping centre’s central location, good transport links and large customer streams. An innovative feature of REDI’s restaurant offering is the innovative “fast-casual dining area”: ten restaurants side-by-side, offering dishes to suit all tastes. Each restaurant in the area will have its disposal around 100 square metres of hall and kitchen facilities. In the restaurant offering, there will be a strong emphasis on street food. REDI’s normal restaurant and entertainment world, open until late in the evening, will operate on a number of floors, linked to each other by elevators and escalators.
Leasing of the shopping centre, due to open in autumn 2018, is proceeding according to plan. Around 47% of premises have been leased on binding agreements or letters of intent. Active negotiations are also under way with other entertainment sector actors, and further details about new actors will be disclosed in due course.
For further information, please contact:
Pia Svensk, Director of Retail Concepts, REDI by SRV, tel. +358 50 389 0569, pia.svensk@srv.fi
Sami Juutinen, Project Manager, Lentotehdas Oy, tel. +358 40 484 7487
Heli Pulkkinen, Communications Specialist, REDI by SRV, tel. +358 50 411 0787, heli.pulkkinen@srv.fi
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REDI in brief
REDI, due to open in 2018 next to Finland’s mostly densely populated area, will have around 60,000 people living in its direct proximity, and its entire area of influence will have over 500,000 people, a third of the residents of Greater Helsinki. REDI is located at the intersection of three large highways, and the metro will stop 500 times a day on the third floor of the shopping centre. A number of bus lines will stop both on the third floor of the shopping and at street level. There will be 45,000 jobs within a ten-minute walk of the centre.
REDI, implemented by SRV in Kalasatama, Helsinki, will comprise the inner city’s largest shopping and experience centre and eight tower buildings. Below the centre will be a 2,000-space parking facility, usable by both the towers’ residents and the shopping centre’s customers. REDI’s popularity is not just restricted to business premises. Of the apartments in the first residential tower, Majakka, around 90% have been reserved. Construction work at REDI, Finland’s largest urban construction project, was launched in spring 2015 and is expected to continue until 2023. The shopping centre will open as a complete unit in autumn 2018.