Spanish Mills

The Mills Corp. (Arlington, Va.), developer of huge discount malls around the U.S., has announced plans for Madrid Xanadu, a 1.2 million-square-foot center in the suburbs of Madrid. It will be Mills'first development outside North America.

Madrid Xanadu will feature over 200 specialty retailers, approximately 20 anchor stores and a variety of dining and entertainment attractions. Construction on the first phase of the project is expected to begin later this summer, with the project's opening slated for 2003.

The $300 million center already has commitments from two anchors considered blockbuster in Spain. El Corte Ingles will open a fashion department store of nearly 400,000 square feet and Hipercor will open one of its upscale markets. The mall will also contain “The Snowdome,” a 180,000-square-foot indoor skiing, snowboarding and ice-skating facility, believed to be the largest such facility in Europe.

Madrid Xanadu will be located in Arroyomolinos, Spain, along the N-V highway, the main route from Madrid to Lisbon, Portugal. A little more than 13 miles from downtown Madrid, the center is in one of the region's fastest-growing suburban belts. The total project scope is nearly 2 million square feet of retail gross leasable area.

Among the local and pan-European vendors already on board are Chapman & Taylor, a Madrid-based architectural and design firm, and Mace Management Services, a Madrid construction consultancy.

The Mills Corp. has amassed a portfolio of 12 retail and entertainment destinations (11 Mills and 1 Block) totaling approximately 17 million square feet in 10 states. It currently has four other projects under construction and/or development in the U.S. and Canada, with plans to open Discover Mills in early November in suburban Atlanta.