Montevideo Shopping boasts some 431,100 square feet of GLA and is adding about 37,555 square feet to open in July. The mall has also become a popular entertainment center, with its 12-lane bowling alley, skating rink, multiscreen cinema, theater, indoor karting and casino. The entertainment options were added during periods of slow economic growth.
Twenty-nine new retail spaces are being added to the mall, for a total of 205, along with 400 parking spaces, for a total of 2,051. About 1 million people visit every month, says architect Oscar J. Corlazzoli, Montevideo Shopping’s general coordinator. Among the new tenants are The Coffee Store; El Shopping de los Ni?os, a children’s entertainment concept; and Women’secret, a Spanish lingerie retailer, says Corlazzoli.
Not far from Montevideo Shopping is the 452,000-square-foot Punta Carretas Shopping, a 13-year-old, high-end mall in a building that had been Montevideo’s main prison. The prison gained worldwide notoriety in 1971 when about 100 Tupamaros (members of an urban guerrilla organization) escaped. At the end of 1990, the building was vacated and the government called for private bids. The facility is doing a much better job of keeping shoppers in than it had with prisoners. The mall has a 560-foot-long skylight, 180 shops, five anchors, a 700-seat food court and a 10-screen cinema.