Indonesia’s 1st Aeon Mall to open in May

Shopping mall developer Aeon Mall Indonesia and real-estate giant Sinar Mas Land, have joined forces to open Indonesia’s first Aeon Mall on May 30, a company executive revealed on Wednesday.

The new joint entity behind the shopping center has been named Aeon Mall Sinarmas Land Indonesia, or AMSL

The announcement confirms a report  detailing the endeavor in GlobeAsia last October, which also quoted Sinar Mas Land director Ishak Chandra in estimating that the project would cost between $150 million and $200 million.

Located in BSD City, a Sinar Mas Land township in Tanggerang on the southern outskirts of Jakarta, the mall will house 280 stores — 47 of which are part of popular Japanese franchises.

Nearly half of these brands are completely new to Indonesia, AMSL operations manager Adrian Pranata said.

Ryuma Okazaki, president director of both AMSL Indonesia and Aeon Mall Indonesia, said the joint venture is expected to attract 12 million visitors a year.

Its main target market is middle to high-income consumers living in BSD City, Tanggerang, West Jakarta and North Jakarta, he added.

Land and construction costs of the 100,000-square meter mall ultimately reached $160 million.

Aeon Mall Indonesia is a local arm of Japan-based shopping mall developer and operator Aeon, while Sinar Mas Land is the property holding company of giant conglomerate Sinar Mas Group, which owns a diversified businesses across the country. Aeon Mall Indonesia contributed 67 percent of the shopping center’s investment.

Okazaki also confirmed Aeon’s plan to open 20 new malls in Indonesia, mainly in West Java and the Greater Jakarta area — which includes Bogor, Tanggerang, Bekasi and Depok — to tap into Indonesia’s rapidly growing middle class.

The Japanese company had set a five- to eight-year investment plan worth 80 billion yen ($667.57 million) in 2013.

Okazaki added that the investment costs may have surged by now, due to inflation, foreign exchange fluctuations and higher construction costs.

Adrian of AMSL said Indonesia’s second Aeon mall will likely be located in Jakarta Garden City, a township in East Jakarta developed by Sinar Mas land rival Modernland Realty.

Construction is scheduled to commence in May, he added.