Akmerkez is a

shopping mall A shopping mall (or simply mall) is a North American term for a large indoor shopping center, usually Anchor tenant, anchored by department stores. The term "mall" originally meant pedestrian zone, a pedestrian promenade with shops along it (that ...

located in the

Etiler Etiler is a neighbourhood on the European side of Istanbul, Turkey, in the district of Beşiktaş, close to the business quarters of Levent and Maslak. Etiler is famous for its upmarket cafés, pubs, night clubs, restaurants, gyms, coiffeurs, ...

quarter of

Beşiktaş Beşiktaş () is a district and municipality of Istanbul, Turkey, located on the European shore of the Bosphorus strait. It is bordered on the north by Sarıyer and Şişli, on the west by Kağıthane and Şişli, on the south by Beyoğlu, ...

district in

Istanbul ) , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = 34000 to 34990 , area_code = +90 212 (European side) +90 216 (Asian side) , registration_plate = 34 , blank_name_sec2 = GeoTLD , blank_i ...

, Turkey. As the country's third shopping mall following

Galleria Ataköy Galleria Ataköy, the first modern shopping mall in Turkey, is situated in the western suburb of Ataköy, Istanbul. It was built following the recommendation of then Prime Minister Turgut Özal, who was inspired by the shopping mall Houston Gal ...

and Capitol, it was opened by a joint venture of the Akkök, Tekfen and İstikbal companies on December 18, 1993. The Akmerkez complex covers an area of and consists of a four-story shopping area, with two towers offering a total of 31 stories of office space, 14 and 17 in two towers, and a third tower with 24 stories of residential areas. The shopping area, offering visitors 246 stores, is spread over a triangular area connected to the surrounding main roads through 3 atria. The total rentable store area is . There are 41 escalators, 2 panoramic elevators and 30 elevators. The cleaning, security and general maintenance is provided by a workforce of 250 people. In 2005, the shopping mall was converted into a real estate investment company, and 49% of the stakes were offered to the public. The Dutch real estate investment company Corio owns 46.9% of the public shares. Akmerkez is visited by visitors on weekdays and 50,000 over the weekends. The number of visitors reached around 1.5 million per month, or 14 million a year. It is reported that the average visiting time is with three and half hours over the world average. The shopping mall started to host art exhibitions and events with works of significants artists in 2002.

Renovation

In 2008, a renovation project for the shopping mall was announced. Between 2013 and 2014, it underwent a complete renovation, which cost more than 20 million.

References

External links

Official website

International Council of Shopping Centers
* {{coord, 41, 04, 37, N, 29, 01, 37, E, type:landmark_scale:50000, display=title Shopping malls in Istanbul Beşiktaş Commercial buildings completed in 1993