Shopping Malls in Austria: delayed or canceled?

In recent times the number of delays of planned shopping center openings is rising. Shopping Center Gerasdorf, Shopping Center Westbahnhof, Shopping Center Wien Hauptbahnhof, Einkaufszentrum Ried, Shopping Center Wien-Mitte – just to name a few. Other centers seem to dissapear completely from the map: Stadt-Galerie Graz, EKZ Brachmühle, EKZ Rothneusiedl. What ist happening? Is it financing troubles? Unwilling tenants? Way too high rent levels or are there simply enough centers around?

Fact is that Austria has one of the highest shopping center densities in Europe with 0,3 sqm/inhabitant and a total of 2,5m sqm GLA (gross leasable area). Another fact is that it is becoming more and more difficult to get the necessary licenses and authorisation to build a shopping center. Examples are projects like Kaufhaus Tyrol in Innsbruck or the Stadt-Galerie Graz which has now been abandoned. In addition to that the necessary rents have risen due to more expensive financing and this causes reluctance among the retailers.

For 2010 the opening of only 3 larger malls is expected: Kaufhaus Tyrol in Innsbruck, the V’Arena in Vöcklabruck, which has been developed by Interspar and a large extension of the Donauzentrum in Vienna.