Largest Mall in Piauí Showcasing Booming Real Estate Sector in the Northeast

Interview with Kleber Braga, Business Consultant at Sá Cavalcante

What does the investment you are making represents at a State level?

For Piauí and specifically for Teresina, it’s an investment of around 1.2 billion Brazilian Reals in the course of 1 year to execute the project of the Rio Poty Shopping Center. It’s an investment in which we’ll be giving direct employment and, in full functioning it would be mobilizing around 500 million Brazilian Reals every year, with a flow level of people of 10 million per year. It’s an enterprise with a very useful concept, integrating homes, businesses, and stores, commercial rooms with an interactive concept with the community and with the environment, an Environmental Park and a cultural center. This project is going to be very fruitful for the north zone of Teresina. It’s going to be a multipurpose park.

Are there any other projects of the kind in Piauí, in Teresina, or is yours the only one?

This one is the first and the only one, and I believe that we’ll be the first ones during the next 5 years in what concerns the concept being developed and its implementation.

Does that mean that the State has potential for investment of this kind?

Yes, of course. Teresina has around 1 million inhabitants, which are potential clients and users and these people need something like this to meet the local needs. All researches we made came with a positive result in terms of people’s needs, and also with a good perspective of return on investment.

You are expecting to attract people, not just from Teresina, but also from the neighbour States, isn’t that right?

Yes, that’s right. We are expecting to attract people from Ceará, Maranhão, Goiás, South of Bahia and others. This is the adequate moment for us to offer this type of enterprise.

What are the main highlights about the project regarding sustainability, amount of investment, etc.?

There is a very important characteristic: in this enterprise we are preserving 30% of the area in terms of environment. Inside the area to be preserved we are building parks and ecological trails to serve people coming to the shopping center and also the residents.

How competitive is the real estate market in Teresina? How easy is it to come here and build a project?

In our case, we made the project in a very good time, because there was lack of offer and high demand in the sector. With the characteristics we are offering we have no competition. We’ll be the only ones and the best.

What is the trend as far as shopping centers space is concerned in Teresina and how much will it add to this? Will it not disrupt too much?

All studies carried out led us to build an enterprise of this size and with this volume of investment, and in a short period we’ll have the return on investment.

The enterprise will have 287 stores, 13 megastores, 34 food related stores and 12 movie theatres. The space was all sized according to the needs of the Teresina population. All dimensioning of rooms, stores, residences and commercial spaces are all within the results of the studies concerning the needs of the Teresina market.

Which are the risks inherent to a project of this dimension and what kind of difficulties can appear on the way?

Our planning is done in the following way: until the end of 2013 we will be delivering the finalized project to the population: the shopping center, a hotel tower and a tower with commercial rooms. The residential and other commercial projects will be launched over 3 more years and they will be studied and analyzed in terms of area and volume according to the evolution of the population and their needs and interest.

Is there a possibility of launching another project such as this one in Teresina?

A project of this size and with the same amount of resources, I don’t think it will be possible, at least during the next 5 years.

In Brazil there are problems related with safety. Are there any safety problems in Teresina?

Like any growing metropolis, Teresina has the same difficulties and characteristics as the other towns concerning the safety of inhabitants. We’ll take care of that issue in a particular way for the enterprise to meet the needs of the community. We’ll work in partnership with public and state institutions to solve safety issues.

You are not from here. What is your vision of Teresina and of the Piauí State as an outsider?

Piauí today is being discovered and it’s the newest agricultural frontier in the country. We have a very good and fertile land for the agrobusiness, we have several investors who are working with soy, cotton, beans, etc. So, we have a high volume of land ready for the agrobusiness and for the bioenergy sector. The market is expanding; investors are seeking to invest here.

Due to its position in the center of Brazil, several state roads converge to our region in the northeast center.

The education and health sectors are very strong in Piauí, especially in Teresina, and they are a reference at national level.