The developer of The Phnom Penh Megamall has pushed its opening to the fourth quarter of this year due to delays in interior design, CBRE Cambodia managing director Ann Sothida said on Wednesday.

CBRE Cambodia was given exclusive marketing rights to the project.

Sothida told The Post on Wednesday that the latest postponement was unrelated to the market situation. She said about 200 international companies have reached out to CBRE Cambodia to open shop there.

“The delay has nothing to do with market issues. Companies have expressed their interest and have leased about 70-80 per cent of the building’s retail space, with the ninth floor entirely leased out,” said Sothida.

She said there would be a lot of famous brands coming to The Phnom Penh Megamall, which is the best-positioned mall in the capital.

The shopping hub comprises eleven storeys – nine above ground and two below – and is located along Russian Boulevard in Daun Penh district’s Srah Chak commune.

It has a total floor area of 47,000sqm and will be used as a mixed-commercial centre.

Images posted on social media show that the first basement floor will house a supermarket and food court. The first and second floors will contain cafes and fashion, jewellery and cosmetics shops.

The third floor will comprise bookstores, playgrounds and child-oriented shops while the fourth will house restaurants.

The fifth floor will be reserved for food stalls, dessert and snack outlets and the sixth will contain electronics stores.

The seventh will have educational institutions and bank branches, the eight a health and fitness centre, and the ninth floor will be home to entertainment venues such as a cinema, bowling alley, karaoke and an arcade.

A CBRE Cambodia report said there were a total of 19 buildings in Phnom Penh providing 314,000sqm of retail space as of the end of last year.

At the end of 2018, there were 14 buildings in the capital providing 282,580sqm of retail space, it said.

This year, CBRE Cambodia expects an additional 261,746sqm in retail space supply, bringing the total in Phnom Penh to 575,700sqm.