At the heart of Luxembourg’s construction legacy, the Giorgetti family’s GRIDX project is more than a shopping destination, it’s a blueprint for the future of urban development and generational transition.
Sitting beside the A4 motorway, in a rural village halfway between Luxembourg’s two biggest cities, a 42,000-square-metre site is rewriting the rules of retail. GRIDX, the brainchild of Félix Giorgetti Group, is not just a shopping destination, it’s a living lab for the future of urban development, bringing together automotive showcases, fine dining, immersive art, and hospitality under one roof. For the Giorgetti family, the project is more than an investment; it’s a statement of intent from the fourth generation of one of Luxembourg’s oldest construction dynasties. And a major diversification beyond traditional construction.
GRIDX stands on land owned by the Giorgettis, a rarity in Luxembourg, where developers scramble for scarce plots. The family’s land bank (estimated at over 50 hectares in 2022), amassed over a century, is the bedrock of projects like this. ‘In post-war Luxembourg, our ancestors had a hard time competing for public contracts,’ says Alex, one of the five members of the fourth generation. “So they bought land”. Today, that’s the group’s superpower.
In-house expertise
Two generations of Giorgettis poured their expertise into GRIDX. The space, which employs some 1000 people and opened in stages from September 2025, offers culinary experiences, automotive showcases, immersive art, state-of-the-art fitness and spaces, a business centre and a hotel, not to mention live performances, shopping and vehicle maintenance facilities. As an example of the scale and ambition, one of the opening events featured a concert in which a Harley Davison was driven into the arena. “I think the whole family’s fingerprints are on this,” says Alex.
“I think the whole family’s fingerprints are on this”
The publicly cited total price tag of €300M was kept low thanks to in-house expertise, notably the portfolio of assets that the third generation has been slowly building. From the crane rental and sale firm Skyliners, to asphalt experts Julien Cajot, the GBA Quarry in Belgium, and interior experts S+B Inbau and Inside. They even added a catering firm Concept + Partners. The total workforce of roughly 3,000 people means that Félix Giorgetti had everything they needed to remain lean and agile.
“Had it been built by financial investors, they would probably have spent much more,” says Alex.
The fourth generation all had a say in its development. “It was a challenge because the present generation gave us, the next generation, all the responsibility for this project. We all took it seriously, and they listened to us and trusted us,” he says.
Not all decisions were seamless; there were inter-generational debates over costs and operations.
The biggest debate was perhaps over the original branding “Motor World”, which the fourth generation vetoed. They settled on the symbolic GRIDX, with the “GRID” a nod to the synergies between the five pillars mobility, retail, events, gastronomy, and experiences, while the “X” embodies partnerships.
Iterative process
GRIDX took more than a decade to build, with construction beginning in 2019. Considering the impact of the covid-19 pandemic, material cost surges as a result of the invasion of Ukraine, changes in customer habits, not to mention feedback from the local community, adaptations are to be expected.
“I think it really shows that we don’t mind changing something that we’ve decided on and we believe that you see so much more detail when you evolve,” says Alex, who is responsible for operations and partnerships.
“We’re not just a mall; we’re a platform for experiences”
This willingness to change reinforces the commitment to their vision: to invent a shopping experience that didn’t exist in Luxembourg. “Looking at all the markets and malls in the greater region, they’re all the same,” he says of the chain stores dominating high streets. It is no secret that shopping habits are moving online, undermining the sustainability of these models. “To stay competitive in the long term, you need to be a facilitator for brands, to explain their story. And, on the other side, make sure that customers have memorable experiences.”
The answer was built around strong partnerships with brands that didn’t exist in the region, like Englehorn, who were invited to join high quality brands that already had a presence like Bentley, Alpine, and Ducati-KTM. The group then added an emotional and human connection layer, creating events where communities meet, whether it is around wine, vintage clothing or culture. “We’re not just a mall; we’re a platform for experiences,” says Alex.
The experiences
GRIDX opened in phases, “Like an advent calendar, we’ll open a new box every month,” Alex had told me earlier in 2025 ahead of the opening. Already, the Galleria 610 has hosted an Ayrton Senna exhibition, organised with MAUTO, the national automobile museum of Turin. Remaining with the automotive theme, E-MOTION offers racing simulations.
The Boom! Karaoke rooms opened in autumn 2025, as did GioLabs, an 1,200–1,500m² immersive digital art centre featuring AI-driven art in 360° projections, the Koru health club and a children’s playground.
And the cherry on the cake? The NOTO Hotel with its 133 rooms, suites and apartments.
But finding partners wasn’t all seamless.
“Eighteen months before opening, we were at 30% [occupancy],” the 29-year-old recalls. The Group scaled down its mobility allocation. “People don’t buy a new car every week,” he says. The outcome: at the time of writing they achieved 90% occupancy.
On the experience side, he shares his vision for GRIDX’s place in the future by describing a typical customer who stops by on a Sunday for a pilates class in a digital immersive room at the KORU gym, followed by some authentic spicy Thai cuisine in the foodhall (other cuisines are available). “That’s the future we are moving towards. Fewer subjects, more experiences,” he says.
In less than a year, GRIDX has become a familiar part of the landscape in Luxembourg’s south and is even featured on the Luxembourg version of the boardgame Monopoly. At the opening of the Ayrton Senna exhibition, Luxembourgish visitors rubbed shoulders with English, French and Germans, from children right through to pensioners. Within the next decade, commuters should be able to reach GRIDX via the super fast tram, connecting Luxembourg City and Esch. By then, we’ll know if they’ve redefined urban life, or built another mall.
