Disneyland Paris announces the opening of the International Shopping Center
The opening of the International Shopping Center, "the first stone of Val d’Europe"
The International Shopping Center, which is to open its doors today, is the first major project of Val d’Europe, the urban pole which is coming to life next to Disneyland Paris. It offers two areas, side by side, covering 98 000 m²:
- the Regional Shopping Center including a Auchan hypermarket, 10 average-size shops, 130 boutiques, restaurants, a fitness center and a trip to the heart of the under-water world, "Sea Life Center",
- La Vallée Shopping Village, made up of 70 boutiques dedicated to the major names in international fashion at reduced prices.
The local and tourist populations, for which La Vallée Shopping Village will complement the tourist offer of Disneyland Paris, will mingle with one another in this International Shopping Center. It will equally be the catalyst of the future Val d’Europe urban center and of its two districts: the station plaza to be inaugurated in 2001 with a new RER station (the regional express train), housing, office space, services and neighborhood shops, and the park district, rather residential, to be inaugurated between 2003 and 2007.
These developments are in keeping with the general pattern of the Agreement of the 24th of March, 1987, the founding deed of the Euro Disney Company, signed by the French public authorities and The Walt Disney Company, had foreseen the combined development of a tourist destination, Disneyland Paris and a real estate project, the Val d’Europe, for which Euro Disney S.C.A. is the developer.
Sector IV of Marne-la-Vallée is currently undergoing a major mutation phase. The constructions of the Val d’Europe, the 160 hectare International Business Park, the second Disneyland Paris Park, "Les Studios Disney" to open its doors in the spring of 2002, as well as the developments linked to the expansion of the tourist destination all represent investments of over 10 billion francs.
Thus, Val d’Europe is going to become a major economic pole in the Ile-de-France, with 40 000 jobs created by 2015, to which one can add 40 000 direct and indirect jobs already generated by Disneyland Paris, and nearly 40 000 residents in the Val d’Europe urban center.
According to Jay Rasulo, Euro Disney’s Chairman, "The opening of the Val d’Europe International Shopping Center is an important phase in the development of our site. It complements the tourist activity and marks the birth of an area of economic activities, while reinforcing the durability of Disneyland Paris that has been, since its opening, the first European tourist destination."
-- Posted October 25, 2000
Source: Company Press Release