TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin How's the Blue Mall Doing?

Our last three visits over three years we were not impressed <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Yikes.gif" alt="" />.

Rumor is some floors are turning into a hotel. All the shops are on level 1 now and just a couple are on level 3 (there is no level 2). I'm not sure how any of the shops or restaurants survive.

The apartments look like they have amazing views from the pictures I have seen

We are renting a condo there in November.
Fingers crossed <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Umbrella.gif" alt="" />

I have read that all shops will move to the first floor & that the building has been sold to a hotel chain, maybe Marriott.

RE: The Blue Mall (Soualiga Post.com)

"OPENED IN THE BEGINNING OF 2016, THE PEROLA BAR IS LOCATED ON THE GROUND FLOOR OF THE BLUE MALL. A UNIQUE PLACE WHERE GOOD BEER AND ROCK N’ROLL GO HAND IN HAND
The Blue Mall, this shopping mall located in Cupecoy and which was inaugurated in December 2013, is fuelling a few rumors on the social networks. Despite its choice location and its nine floors, the establishment doesn’t seem to draw any crowds. What will become of it? According to Eduardo De Haay, marketing manager, it’s going to be reorganized. All the shops, which are currently spread out on the first five floors, will be relocated to the ground floor. "We will keep the stores which are successful and will add those that the consumers want. We’re going to redesign the space", he explained. As for floors 2 to 5, they will host a large hotel chain in the near future whose name cannot be officially disclosed for the moment: "There will be a lot of rooms and we will need a lot of employees" he said while ensuring that this large-scale project will participate in the economic development of the island. The idea is to restore life to this giant by counting, among other things, on events.
Publicity at the pub
The FVI Group (Fondo de Valores Inmobiliarios), the owner of the shopping center, is one of the TOP 100 Venezuelan companies. They also own a Blue Mall in Santo Domingo, as well as several other malls in Venezuela. Royne Moreno was invited to open the Perola Bar at the beginning of 2016, whose slogan has an obvious meaning: «Good things happen to people who drink good beer». At the age of 43, this beer and rock lover who loves to give advice or tell stories first worked in an advertizing agency in Venezuela. "Since we were creative and we loved beer, we began to brew five years ago. In our country, there are only three industrial beers like Pils and we wanted to discover different flavors. It wasn’t a micro-brewery but rather a nano-brewery." he reminisced. Encouraged by their friends and clients at the agency who they asked to taste their production, they started selling it in hotels and restaurants."

This was found on a website for the Perola Bar.

I never understood a Mall in that location...a hotel seems just as bad of idea. Myself and I think most people that go to St Maarten want a nice dependable beach just out there door if they can have it is a first choice. You can go to Vegas if you want another same old name brand hotel. Maybe condo's but then that would be very pricy I am sure and not the demand. Not my money but just seems like good money being spent after bad. I am impressed with the building and some of the restaurant and shops. But as they say.....location, location , location.

A couple of friends of mine ran into a Blue Mall condo owner and he took them to his place. I must say that I was impressed when I saw the pictures that they took. Very modern in design with beautiful views. This was two years ago. I watched a World Cup game in the bar at the mall and liked it. The rest of the shops were so-so.

An investor from a broken country, dumping millions into a project with no planning, and no future....
It has been nice, on occasion, to wander the empty space and shop the few stores in there.
The location stinks, considering how many dilapidated hotels closer to beaches, could have been turned around instead.
As far as shopping from cruise passengers goes, well it is as far as you can get on the island from the cruise ship dock.

We were there in March and we were the only people. We looked in the shops but bought nothing. Not impressed.

I have heard various things about the property, to it was supposed to provide shopping for prosperous locals, to it was a tax write off for the owners, to it was somewhere to launder money. I have no idea what the truth is of any of that. Personally, I don't 'get' the concept at all and we have driven past there probably a hundred times and never once had the slightest desire to go in. The pictures that I've seen of some of the apartments there look lovely, IF you like that 'modern' look, which I don't, but that is my personal hang-up. In general, I don't 'get' the whole high rise in the Caribbean either, but many people love it.

We went to the mall once. Very empty considering the holidays were just around the corner. The only reason I think the mall went up was in the hope that it would be used by all the people who were going to invest in the new construction of the Cupecoy condos being built. Unless you're made of money, these properties, even to rent for vacation are so far out of reach for the average vacationer.
Eventually, the whole area will deteriorate due to lack of affordability. The property owners need to make it more affordable to vacation there. Worst of all, is that the citizens of St. Martin will wind up paying the price. Regardless of what takes the place of the mall, if it is unattainable to the people because of the cost, then it becomes just another eyesore to the people of the island and those who love the beach at Cupecoy.
Corporate greed at its worst!

My biggest concern is all the construction around Cupecoy beach. In the 15 years we have been coming to SXM, we have seen the charm of Cupecoy dissappearing. The condos, the blue mall and the rocks in front of the condos have destroyed the look of the beach. Danny told us the attendance and his business are going down. We still go to cupecoy every year, but something lacks now.