How ROSHN is Integrating Retail and Communities in Saudi Arabia

SHOPPING CENTRE UPDATE

How ROSHNis Integrating Retail and Communities in Saudi Arabia

Roshn Real Estate is a master developer and the largest real estate development company in the Kingdom, fully owned by the Public Investment Fund and its Board of Directors and chaired by His Royal Highness Prince

Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud. Roshn is focused on meeting the growing demand for housing in the Kingdom.

The Retail People Magazine had a one-on-one interview with Lee

Talbott, Director-Retail Portfolio at Roshn Real Estate. Lee has worked in the Retail Industry for over 30 years in London, Sydney,

Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Oman, Bahrain, Qatar, Shanghai and Saudi for the last 3 years. Lee has overseen the master planning and leasing of everything from community malls to Super Regional

Malls including Yas Mall and Mall of Qatar for major developers including Nakheel, Aldar, Landmark, Msheireb Downtown Doha,

MiSK City and now ROSHN.

Let’s hear more from Lee about ROSHN and how it is integrating retail communities in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Q ROSHN is becoming a household name in Saudi Arabia, but it is not so familiar across the wider Gulf Region. Can you tell us about ROSHN and their mandate?

Lee: ROSHN is a private sector community development company created and owned by Public Investment Fund and was launched in August 2020. The company’s mandate is to deliver high quality integrated communities that improve the quality of life for Saudi citizens and transform urban living in the Kingdom. Q What kind of scale are we looking at?

Lee: ROSHN has committed to making a substantial contribution to the Vision 2030 goal of reaching 70% homeownership for Saudi families. With a young population driving rapid growth in new households, we need to deliver a whole new level of supply to meet the national goals. We are currently master planning around 200 million m2 located across the Kingdom. For example, one of our first projects, Sedra in Riyadh will have over 30,000 housing units when completed. Q What is your approach to community retail?

Lee: It really starts with our whole concept of people-friendly, fully-integrated communities. Our masterplans are designed to create pedestrian-friendly public spaces and pathways, and we will be building micro-mobility into the strategy. We will be enhancing typical municipal services with additional landscaping, recycling, security, pest control and cleaning of public spaces. Each of our communities will have a whole network of pathways, play areas and small parks. In addition to a full range of public services and infrastructure, our retail hierarchy will be completely different from what is available in Saudi cities. Whereas most community retail here has been developed as strip centres on the edge of large urban blocks, ROSHN is locating clusters and plazas in the middle of neighbourhoods and districts. They are strategically

collocated with public spaces and amenities and designed to be convenient for pedestrians and cyclists as well as cars. The aim is to incorporate these assets into the daily life of our residents, thereby enhancing the quality of their living experience. Q How is ROSHN looking to deliver this program?

Lee: We have created an asset management department which will be responsible for leasing and property management of our income-producing assets. This includes retail, residential, mixeduse and other asset classes. Our aim is that our income-producing portfolio will be a strategic part of the business, creating value for our owners and the community. Q Any other innovations in your approach?

Lee: We have created a team dedicated to digital strategy. They will be creating a digital platform for our communities and resident experience. I am working closely with them to build a platform for our retail tenants and merchants to communicate and trade.

Q Tell us about your role.

Lee: As Director of the Retail Portfolio, it is my job to work with the master planning teams from an early stage to integrate all retail elements into our communities from an early stage, and once completed, to oversee the leasing property management and marketing of these assets. We are looking to create leasing relationships with retail, food & beverage and leisure tenants, but I am also exploring other business models for ROSHN to be involved across different verticals as partners or operators. We believe that our communities present a strategic opportunity for retailers to create new relationships with Saudi households who are emerging as one of the most interesting cultural and demographic stories anywhere in the world right now. The future of retailing in Saudi has never been better, get in touch to find out more about how to join ROSHN!

Lee Talbott

Director - Retail Portfolio

Roshn Real Estate