The Merter AVM
If you ask those living in Istanbul “Which is the first modern shopping mall in the city or even in the whole country?” Probably most would answer that it’s the Galleria Ataköy Shopping Mall, along the Marmara Sea coastline, on the way to the old Atatürk International Airport. However, there is a fact that most people ignore, that the first candidate for the title of being “the first shopping mall in Turkey” belongs to another building that thousands of people pass by every day.
This statement would be correct with a small addition: “If it had been completed …”
After the coup d’etat of 1980, the people, who had lived in scarcity for so many years benefited from an opening of the economy which lead to an increase in imports and thus began to have access to a better standard and variety of products. After years of queueing for basic goods cuch as gas and oil, istanbulites were ready to evolve towards the next level of consumption habits…
During the following decades, Turkey experienced a massive developemnt of such type of investments, inspired by the models coming from the USA and Europe. According to the records of the Shopping Investors Association (AYD), after the opening in 1988 of Galleria, which was the first shopping center in the country, the number of shopping malls in the country reached 333 just in 6 years. During this period, most projects were successful but, similar to the Merter AVM, there were other unsuccessful investments (see our The Bostancı AVM article).
The Merter AVM is the first example of this shopping mall boom across the country in terms of both attempt and failure. The land, located in the Topkapı-Merter direction of the E5 highway, which is one of the busiest arteries of Istanbul, was purchased by Ekmel Beton in 1986 and the studies to built the first shopping mall in the country were started. However, although the promotor company partnered with another investor due to financial difficulties, the project got into a deadlock because of the disagreements between both parties. The license of the project was canceled in consequence of not being completed within the promised time, due to consecutive failures of the joint venture.
In 1995, the building and the land were purchased by Hasır Halıcılık, but it was confiscated by the Toprak Bank due to financial difficulties experienced by the company. Although the owner of the building changed in the following years, its destiny did not become different and it took its place among the abandoned buildings of Istanbul.
This 8-storey concrete structure, which has been abandoned for about 30 years, along this high transited road of Istanbul, has taken its place in the memory of millions of Istanbulites as an enormous advertisement billboard, something so different from the dreams of its investor, who took a step towards becoming a pioneer 34 years ago.
Ironically, the building has been used as one of the largest outdoor advertising billboards in Istanbul. This improvised function definitely has parallel relations with its original purposes of serving the culture of mass consumption, but we believe that it deserves better attention from the local authorities by finding a solution for its painful presence in the urban tissue.
The set of articles under the name “Abandoned Buildings of Istanbul – Data Gathering” being prepared and shared by ARKollective, aim to raise awareness over a very common phenomenon happening in Istanbul and in many major cities around the world. To read more about large abandoned buildings in Istanbul and ideas that might change their condition, please check our previous posts:
Abandoned Buildings of Istanbul – Data Gathering – The Diamond of Istanbul
Abandoned Buildings of Istanbul – Data Gathering – The Bostanci AVM
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