Unibail plans shopping centre in southern Alsace
In southern Alsace, near the EuroAirport Basel-Mulhouse, Unibail Rodamco is planning a shopping center with 40,000 square meters of sales area. The catchment area is to extend as far as Bern.
Plans by Unibail Rodamco for a large mall in the border triangle have been around for some time, but now they are becoming more concrete. According to various local media reports, the shopping center is to be built on an area between the EuroAirport and the Saint-Louis train station in Alsace. Unlike originally envisaged, however, the mall will not comprise 100,000 sqm of retail space, but "only" 40,000 sqm. This would make it larger than the Stücki in Basel, which has around 32,000 sq. m. of sales space.
According to the newspaper reports, Unibail wants to bring tenants and brands to the mall that have not yet been represented in the border region. Cinemas and sports facilities are also planned, and there is also talk of a facility for divers. In 2015, a preliminary contract for the sale of 20 hectares was already signed with the St. Louis Agglomeration, Alsace 3 Frontiéres, a special-purpose association in southern Alsace. The shopping center is scheduled to open in 2022. Unibail's project assumes a catchment area of up to 100 kilometers around the mall. That would reach as far as Bern.
The mall would be easily accessible by public transport from Switzerland, as streetcar line 3 is being extended from Basel to the Saint-Louis train station - the section is scheduled to go into operation at the end of 2017. Later, the streetcar line will run to the mall and even to the airport.
