By Reem Abdellatif
CAIRO: SunCity, a new addition to Egypt’s shopping and entertainment centers worth more than LE 3 billion (about $497 million) in total investments, officially opened last week.
This is the first retail flagship for HNS Group, an international contractor and real estate developer.
Located directly on the Ring Road, one of Egypt’s most frequently used highways, the new mall launched its soft opening in December 2011. With most shops open, the mall launched full operations just last week.
“SunCity is built on approximately 28,000 square meters of land; over 7 levels with a total built area of 200,000 square meters. It provides over 1,000 new job opportunities to the local community,” HNS said in a statement.
Housing The Gabriel, a luxury 25-room boutique hotel, the mall caters as a getaway for travelers as it is also directly opposite of the Cairo International Airport. The new hotel is expected to offer 4 suites, a swimming pool on the roof, a restaurant, and a nightclub.
The mall also houses a wide range of entertainment facilities. The mall will host Royal Renaissance, the largest cinema complex in the Middle East, with 16 cinemas on 11,000 square meters. With more space, wider seats and extra legroom, four of the cinemas will also include VIP screens with ‘Lazy Boy’ recliners.
“About 80 percent of the total retail space has already been leased. These include some of Egypt’s top brand labels, such as Mango, Gap, Mother Care, H&M, the new Turkish fashion label LC Waikiki and White House,” the company said in a statement.
SunCity also hosts Carrefour, one of Egypt’s most popular hypermarkets, to occupy about 6,000 square meters in the mall.
The shopping complex also has several casual and formal dining locations, with 45 venues including 17 restaurants, 11 coffee shops, and 16 food court outlets. Available restaurants will include Chili’s, Abou Al-Sid, Makani, Starbucks, Costa, McDonald’s, Burger King and Pizza Hut.
HNS Group for Real Estate, Tourism, Leisure and Entertainment Investments, L.L.C. launched in Egypt in 2005. HNS Group, however, is a privately held company that was launched by Hussein Nuaman Soufraki, a prominent Libyan investor, in 1961.
The group manages and operates several consolidated brands in various sectors including construction, development, property management, hospitality and financial services.
With offices in Cairo, Montreal, Istanbul and London, the company has over 20 subsidiaries in seven different countries with a portfolio of about $1 billion.
In addition to SunCity, HNS Group’s investment portfolio in Egypt includes multiple high-end residential projects in Heliopolis, Korba, Dokki and Mohandiseen.
Salah El-Din Soufraki, managing director HNS Group.
