Investors still sit on hundreds of empty units at New Horizon Mall

Investors who bought units at New Horizon Mall, just off Highway 2north of Calgary,say they're stillstuck with unrented stores and receiving little interestfrom businesses in leasing them seven months after it opened.

The 320,000-square-foot, Asian-inspiredshopping mall, modelled onthe busyPacificMall in Ontario, has flopped in comparison, opening in May but missing both customers and businesses.

The mall says as of last Friday, only39out of 500 stores there are open. They were sold like condos, with individual buyers purchasing a unit toeither leaseor open a business themselves.

Seven months later and weeks away from what should a bustlingholiday season, themall is still largely deserted with hundreds of neat glassstorefrontsconcerning people who purchased units there.

There is progress visible at the mall, with contractors working insome stores and others with "coming soon" signs displayed, but it's not enough for some owners.

"I visited Calgary and someone was telling me the units were sellinglike hot cakes,"said Harpreet Sara, an investor from B.C.

"I thought this was an opportunity to invest but it doesn't look like a really good investment so far,"said Sara.

He was one of the last to buy, thinking the rental dollars would quickly follow. That wasn't the case.

'Paying from my own pocket'

"I was not hoping it would be like this. I was hoping the rent will take care of itself and expenses but I'm paying from my own pocket now. Hopefully in a year or so it becomes a good investment. I'm hoping," said Sara.

"I'm just a regular person.I wish the mall management would do something, to make people visit the mall," Sara added.

Others who purchased unitssay they are concerned about the running ofoperations at the mall.

"I've had it almost half a year,"said Travis Wu, talking about his unit.

He says he only gets about one call a week from his Kijiji ad and his store spacestill remains unleased. Other adsforunits offer several months offree rent and deep discounts, but still no takers.

The mall beganoffering owners a $5,000 incentive to open and lease their units before Dec.31, 2018.

"The overall feeling is the planning is not good, but we are still optimistic about the future of this mall because it's not a traditional mall," said Wu.

"But what we are worried about and concerned about is the current operation, they need more improvement," Wu said.

"They need more stores in the food court and some anchor stores, then there will be more people. If we have more people there everythingwill be much better and we'll rent out all our stores much faster," said Wu.

Some businesses who have opened are keeping afloat through online sales while they wait for more customers to start coming. New businesses in the process of opening include an ice cream store, massage businessand a Korean bakery, alongside others selling clothing, beauty products and cellphone accessories.

A statement from the mall said "As of Dec. 7, New Horizon Mall has 39 stores open and recently announced the opening of its first food court operator, Matty's Grill."

The mall says in addition to the open stores, another 40 are ready to be occupied.

"Each weekend this month, New Horizon Mall is hosting a craft and farmers market in the atrium. This offers entrepreneurs and vendors the opportunity to test the retail environment," the statement read.

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