pune even as a fifth of punes malls remained vacant the second highest in percentage terms across the country between january and june 2016 08 million square feet msqf of new mall space was added to the citys stock in the same periodin terms of fresh space added pune was second only to delhi where one of the largest malls in the country became operational in first half a report by real estate research and broking firm cushman and wakefield cw statedincreased spending expectations coupled with seventh pay commission benefits to government employees and good agriculture season seems to be behind the logic for retail real estate looking up after a protracted period of benign activitythe retail asset class malls that had remained subdued for over five years is now witnessing increased investor interest the retail asset class accounted for about 18 of the total private equity pe investment volume during the first half of 2016 compared to only 2 recorded during the same period in 2015 cw said in a statementaccording to the research agencys citywise mall statistics there was not a single square feet of new mall space added in pune in the january to june period of 2015in the six months ended june 2016 however the new space added in pune was higher even than cities like mumbai kolkata and bengaluru delhi added 31msqf during the periodthe environment is very positive because of good monsoon and we are bringing in new players as well as adding new categories said rajiv malla director phoenix market city we expect to grow by 1819 every year after we bring in all new playersnot only pe players even top brands are queuing up in pune to get a pie of the category of customer who flocks the malls for highend purchaseson tuesday swedish retailer hm hennes mauritz retail said it will open a new store next month at phoenix spread across 33000 square feet it said that it will open another store this winter at a in aundh