The Kingdom Centre was completed in 2002. It is situated on prime land in central Riyadh that Prince Alwaleed acquired in the 1990s. The Kingdom Centre is an iconic building and one of Saudi Arabia's most identifiable landmarks.
The Kingdom Centre, which occupies 94,230 square metres of land comprises the three-level Al-Mamlaka shopping mall, considered to be one of Riyadh’s most prestigious shopping malls, and a 300 metre office tower which was, when built, the tallest building in the Middle East. Kingdom Centre has over 65,000 square metres of leasable space over 30 occupied floors, including four service floors, two mezzanine floors and a skybridge. In addition to offices, the tower contains eight apartment units, comprising 8,243 square metres. It also houses the Four Seasons Riyadh hotel that contains 197 guest rooms and 52 suites, as well as four restaurants, a business centre, outdoor pool and spa and fitness facilities. The day-to-day operations of Kingdom Center are managed by Four Seasons. The Centre's management is considering a number of plans to create additional value, including reconfiguring certain service floors of the building to increase leasable space.
Kingdom Centre includes the Al Mamlaka shopping mall containing 161 stores and total leasable area of 38,543 square metres over three levels. It's anchor tenants are Debenhams, with 8,364 square metres, and SAKS Fifth Avenue, with 5,273 square metres. The mall is targeted toward younger and more affluent shoppers and contains stores representing a number of international luxury brands. The third floor of the mall is for women only. Management estimates that approximately 230,000 persons visit the mall each week.
The 66th floor of the Tower is owned by Prince Alwaleed and is leased to the Company for a nominal annual payment. The Tower has 14 additional office floors, six of which have been sold and eight are leased to tenants. There are five condominium floors, three of which have been sold and the remaining two floors have 20 apartments, 11 of which have been sold. The Four Seasons Hotel property is owned by Trade Centre Company Ltd. Which also leases 168 stores within the mall.
The Kingdom Centre is wholly owned by Trade Center Company Ltd. in which the KHC holds a 49.7 percent interest. This represents an initial investment of SR 431 million. In 2006, the company had EBITDA and net income of SR 86.6 million and SR 22.7 million, respectively. As at 31 December 2006, its total net assets were SR 966.7 million.
KHC believes that demand for residential and commercial space within Riyadh is increasing and that high quality office space continues to be in short supply. It expects that these factors will contribute to higher rental rates for Kingdom Centre in the future. In addition, KHC is considering plans for several additional developments within Kingdom Center, including new store areas, improvements to food court and a giant tower screen for advertising. Furthermore, KHC intends to apply its experience from Kingdom Centre to its planned landmark developments in Jeddah and Riyadh.
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