The Shwe Mya Yar Tower, which will house the 21st Century shopping centre on its bottom two floors, is seen under construction on Mya Yar Gone Street in Mingalar Taung Nyunt township, August 12. The centre is due to open in October and will include the eighth City Mart supermarket in Yangon. Pic: Lwin Mg Mg

A NEW shopping centre called 21st Century will open in Mingalar Taung Nyunt township in mid-October to take advantage of a void in the market for such malls, a spokesman for the project said on August 12.

The centre will be located on the first two floors of the 12-storey Shwe Mya Yar Tower, which is part of a housing estate of the same name being developed since 2003 by Ngapali Construction.

The company has an income-sharing agreement with the Yangon City Development Committee (YCDC) that also applies to the shopping centre.

“There are a total of 30 shops on both floors. Forty percent of the ground floor will be rented by City Mart. So far, we’ve rented about seven shop spaces and other shops are on the way,” spokesman U Soe Myint said at a press conference.

“We are opening this shopping centre because it is close to downtown and also because there are no rival shopping centres in the area between the Dagon Centre (in Sanchaung township) and Yankin Centre,” he added.
“We’re opening here to develop more of this area.”

U Soe Myint said the centre would likely contain a café and clothing, cosmetics and jewellery shops on the ground floor, while upstairs would have a videogames centre, photo studio, beauty salon, restaurant and play area for children. Office space would also be available.

Rental charges range from K1200 to K1500 per square foot.
U Soe Myint said Ngapali Construction was expecting the housing estate to draw about 1000 tenants to its 25 two-storey houses and seven condominium towers, who it hopes will be come regular customers at 21st Century.

Only Shwe Mya Yar Tower, which is 60pc complete, remains to be finished although the nine-acre housing project currently has no residents and is waiting on a Building Completion Certificate (BCC) from the YCDC.
There is customer parking for 100 cars at the housing project.