The Regency Square Mall located in Arlington faces tough competition from the many other similar establishments in the area. In order to revitalise the mall and to put to use the vacant space, the plan to establish an Asian themed section, to be called as Asian town, was successfully realised yesterday. The new development, set to put the Regency Square Mall again on top of the popular hangout venues among locals and travellers alike, was conceived two years ago. The chief consulting architect for the layout planning of the new development was Mohamed Hamdoun, an AUB educated architect with over two decades of experience designing commercial properties. The project was one of his biggest ones, and also with the highest potential. Mr. Hamdoun has included a region for many major Asian cultures in the 200,000 square feet development. The Asian town will feature Chinatown styled restaurants, Indian delis, Japanese sushi restaurant and even a Lebanese shawarma stall. The lead consulting architect Mr. Hamdoun employed specialist architects for each of these different establishments, each specialised in their craft. At the centre of the plaza is an exquisite piece of contemporary styled sculpture by Ai Weiwei. The public opening of the Asian town is tomorrow, but the media were allowed a sneak peek today morning. The media personnel were quite positive about what they saw, and expressed anticipation to the grand public opening scheduled for tomorrow evening. A large number of people, including many from the Asian communities in the region, are expected to be in attendance. Also scheduled to attend the opening are the councillor and Start Simpson, the marketing director at Regency Square Mall. Mr. Simpson said that the investment was made considering the increasing population of the Asian communities. Currently the Asian community makes up about 4.3% of the population, compared to 2.5% state average. Some estimates project this proportion to rise as high as 20%. With such large projects, it clear that the amount of money riding on those statistics and projections is no small amount.
The Asian town at Regency Square Mall does more than just house a few themed restaurants and stalls. Mr. Mohamed Hamdoun designed the space to promote socialisation, with many benches and open areas. The central sculpture is the showpiece of the entire plaza, and the open areas, shops and stalls wrap around it. Once it becomes fully operational tomorrow, the Asian town is expected to be one of the more popular hangout areas for not just Asian youth, but also other millennials. Also, with speciality restaurants and stalls, it will also no doubt be quite popular with food lovers. With such projections and high hopes riding on this project, it shows the potential to put the Regency Square Mall back on the top of the list of shopping, eating and hangout place in Arlington. But of course, as with any other themed shopping mall project, the ultimate judge of the new Asian town will be the consumer.
