by ROY R. MORRIS

IT'S BEING BILLED as "the premier lifestyle centre" in Barbados and will cover 380 000 square feet of floor space on more than one million square feet of land.

When completed, the new shopping mall at Welches/Warrens on the St Thomas/St Michael border will be a Caribbean show-piece, said architect Tony Selby of SRM Architects in Belleville, who has designed the complex for a consortium of developers, led by construction magnate Sir Charles Williams.

And that's just the mall component, Selby said, which is being covered in Phase 1, on lands located south of the Automotive Art store in Welches and east of the Ronald Mapp Highway.

Once the actual mall is completed, he said, developers have planned significant expansion of the project on the Automotive Art side of the Arthur Seat Road.

Eight cinemas

Selby explained that the mall, which would include "a substantial number" of retail shops, would feature eight cinemas, a number of restaurants in an unrivalled foodcourt, "at least five sets of escalators and several elevators", a number of fountains inside and outside and substantial landscaping.

"We are building a modern mall that will be the pride of Barbados," the architect said. "It will cover two floors, along with some underground parking and an attractive atrium two-and-a-half storeys high. We are creating a lifestyle centre that will attract the entire family."

Noting that there had been substantial interest among Barbadians in setting up shops in the mall, Selby added that at least two or three large stores would be included as "anchors".

The mall will cost "well over $1 million", he added, and would take about two years to complete.

And while no supermarket has been designed into the mall, Selby explained that the second phase, which would more than likely include the land now occupied by Automotive Art, would include a supermarket and a number of large hardware/home supply type stores.

Better traffic situation

According to Selby, while there have been concerns about increased traffic congestion in the Warrens area as a result of development that has already occurred, planned road improvements, the construction of fly-overs and the location of the mall to the north of existing commercial activity should allow for better traffic management.

* roymorris@nation news.com