Lisbon, Portugal, November 27th 2008
8ª Avenida and ArrábidaShopping nominated
Sonae Sierra a finalist of the
ICSC Awards 2008
Two Sonae Sierra shopping and leisure centres in Portugal, the 8ª Avenida, in S. João da Madeira, and ArrábidaShopping, in Vila Nova de Gaia, were nominated for the 2008 European Shopping Centre Awards, by the International Council of Shopping Centre Awards (ICSC Awards), which will be held April 2009, in Barcelona.
8ª Avenida and ArrábidaShopping are competing in the "New Centres: Medium" and "Refurbishment/Expansion", respectively.
"We're proud of this nomination, which recognizes the result of our constant commitment in innovation and quality of our developments, and in the refurbishment of our centres under operation", stated Álvaro Portela, Sonae sierra's CEO.
Inaugurated in September 2007, 8ª Avenida brought a new dimension to the shopping and leisure offer in the S. João da Madeira region. With 133 shops, including a supermarket and 14 restaurants, in a Gross Lettable Area (GLA) of 28.268 m2, the centre makes available 1700 free parking spaces. 8ª Avenida serves a population of more than 300,000 inhabitants in a 20 minute catchment area, and its architectural concept in based on regional codes of S. João da Madeira, especially in the fashion industry, thus establishing and emotional bond to the local community.
Inaugurated 12 years ago, ArrábidaShopping went through an innovative refurbishment process, which allows it to currently hold one of the best shopping and leisure offers in the Porto metropolitan area, with a total of 199 shops, in 61,418 m2 of GLA, including the largest cinema in the region and 3,049 parking spaces.
Recognized as the most prestigious awards in the shopping and leisure centre sector, the ICSC Awards reward the best developments in Europe every year, and the jury is composed of the most prominent international personalities in the sector.
Sonae Sierra is an international shopping centre specialist, with a passion for bringing innovation and excitement to the shopping and leisure centre industry. The Company owns 50 Shopping Centres in Portugal, Spain, Italy, Germany, Greece, Romania and Brazil, with a total Gross Lettable Area (GLA) of more than 1.9 million m2. Sonae Sierra has 15 projects under development and 13 new projects in different phases of completion in Portugal, Spain, Italy, Germany, Greece, Romania and Brazil with a total GLA of 1.2 million m2. In 2007, its centres welcomed more than 410 million visits.