Reinventing the City Mall: a New Image and Modern Solutions
We announced reinvention of the City Mall in the beginning of this summer. Currently, the central atrium and the fourth floor of the shopping mall are being remodeled. We will open a food area called City Food in March 2019.
The new concept will include an upgraded interior of the trade galleries, introduction of new brand names, and updated facades.
“Upon beginning remodeling of the City Mall, our goal was to reinvent the existing shopping center; improve logistics and visibility of store windows; conceptually improve operation of the food court; and add new content to the fourth floor,” FORTGROUP’s managing partner, Maxim Levchenko said.
Reinventing of the City Mall will include implementation of a fundamentally new approach to interior design and a more harmonious floor plan. The new concept will provide additional space for accommodating new popular brands. Increase of the leasable area will not affect common areas. They will be even more spacious and convenient for the visitors.
Center of Gravity
The new concept is based on the idea of creating several focal points in the City Mall. After entering the mall through the main entrance, visitors will find themselves in a spacious and full of light City Plaza. From there, they will be able to see the entire central atrium, which will be connected to an upscale City Square. Store windows in the City Square will be seven meters tall and made of innovative tempered glass.
In the fashion galleries, specifically City Avenue and City Boulevard, adjacent to the central atrium on the first floor, the height of store windows will be increased to five meters. Instead of standard Grilyutto ceilings, commonly seen at trade galleries, we will use more modern and expressive design solutions. On the second floor, the central atrium will be connected to two fashion galleries, City Garden and City Park.
A Restaurant of All Restaurants
Transfer of the food court from floor 3 to floor 4 with a panoramic observation terrace, and creation of a diverse food area that will cover 3.5 thousand square meters and seat 1 thousand people, was probably the main part of the City Mall’s new concept.
A true gastronomic cluster with a wide variety of culinary choices that will satisfy the most diverse preferences of the customers will be created at this shopping center. Almost half of this area will be filled with traditional fast food restaurants. There will be ten of them and 600 seats.
The City Food is a lounge with 400 seats and about 15 restaurants. “Actually, we are going to build a giant restaurant that will consist of many small restaurants, representing different types of cuisine, as well as a bar with a common sitting area. The total area of this restaurant will be 30 to 70 meters,” Maxim Levchenko said. Boris Lvovsky Studio, which specializes in restaurant interior design, was in charge of planning and designing City Food.
Proper zoning solutions, modern design, and versatile furniture will leave no trace of the familiar feelings associated with traditional food courts. While developing this project, we made sure that our customers can enjoy different views. The fourth floor will provide a panoramic view of both, the dynamic urban landscape of Kolomyazhsky Avenue and nearby districts, as well as serene greenery of the Udelny Park.
New Brands
New companies that will join us at the City Mall will mostly represent restaurant business. Several well-known brands that utilize popular restaurant concepts will open new locations at the mall. We will transform trade galleries to make them larger and highlight existing stores. We will also add new major brands. In particular, Uniqlo and Sephora, both are successful brands, expressed interest in opening their stores on the first floor.
We are negotiating with Junior, a children’s chain, and expect them to open a store on the third floor that will cover an area of 1.2 thousand square meters. It will be located next to the Detsky Mir.
We also expect Sportsmaster to expand its store on the second floor to almost 4 000 square meters. The new store will be called Sportsmaster PRO.
Facades and Landscaping
The final stage of the City Mall reinvention will include renovation of the facades. Building elevations will be more stylistically in tune with its external appearance. The entrance will be transformed as well. The new “City Mall” signs will be brighter and more modern.
Transformation will affect the surrounding areas, at the intersection of Kolomyazhsky and Ispytateley avenues. Layout of the parking lot will be improved, and a new convenient pedestrian zone will be added, with paved alleys, green spaces, and benches.
