New mall set to open in Puntarenas in 2015

The first shopping mall in the Pacific province of Puntarenas is expected to be ready in early 2015 and will include 136 stores, 6 cinemas and a supermarket, according to developer Puntarenas Ocean Mall S.A.

The project consist of 22,000 square meters of construction space on a six-hectare property. It will be located in Barranca, next to the intersection of Routes 23 and Route 17.

Arnoldo Ramos, vice president of the corporation formed by members of three families, told the weekly El Financiero that the projects’s initial investment will total $20 million.

Representatives of Ocean Mall in February filed the necessary paperwork to obtain environmental viability permits, and they hope to begin construction in early 2014.

Developers also will build a 3,000-square-meter building that will host facilities for a private university.

Costa Rica’s real estate development sector has been highly active this year, with other mall projects recently announced including City Mall in the province of Alajuela, set to begin construction next month.

City Place, in Santa Ana, southwest of San José, will begin construction in November, and Zona Centro Mall in Desamparados, south of the capital, is scheduled to open next March.