[photopress:Macau.gif,full,alignright]Taubman Centers Inc, a leading U.S shopping mall developer, till now has not entered China’s casino capital, Macau, from fears of overbuilding in the city.
But last month, the company entered into a joint venture casino resort, Macau Studio City, which covers a vast retail space of around 70,000 square meters.
Last October, Taubman Asia Limited’s President, Morgan Parker, expressed concern at the amount of retail space that was coming on line in Macau in the next three years. He considered the potential 560,000 square meters to be excessive.
But in an interview with The Associated Press on Monday, Parker said only a limited number of companies could compete with Taubman, which operates 23 regional shopping centers in 11 different states in the U.S and has a market capitalization of US$6 billion.
Referring to the potential 560,000 square meters of retail space in Macau, he commented, ‘A lot of the supply is either delayed or not being built. There are big questions about what’s being built.’
He added that even if this retail space was completed within the next three years and new hotel rooms were built, Macau will only have 17 square meters of retail space per hotel room, compared to 29 square meters in the Las Vegas market.
Macau’s gambling revenue soared 22% in 2006 to US$6.95 billion. It’s the only zone in China where casino gambling is legal.
Source: The Associated Press and WATAsia Research
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