Allied London is proposing a pop-up shopping village at Spinningfields in Manchester to drive footfall to other elements of the scheme.
The firm has hired Manchester-based Kiostructures to provide 15 portable pop-up retail kiosks on short-term leases in Hardman Square in the city centre.
Allied hopes the village will drive footfall to the Spinningfields scheme’s 400,000 sq ft high-end retail offering The Avenue.
In December 2011, the UK’s first pop-up mall, called Boxpark, opened in Shoreditch, E1. It is made up of 60 shipping containers let on five-year leases to tenants including NikeID, Lacoste L!ve, Evisu, Monkee Genes and Original Penguin.
Allied’s pods will be targeted at smaller independent companies or big brands looking for a temporary presence in the area.
Leases will be available on a 12-month term, however Kiostructures director Paul Danson said shorter-term deals could also be on offer.
Although terms have not yet been decided, rents are expected to be considerably less than at The Avenue, where tenants pay an average annual rent of £100,000 on a 3,000 sq ft store.
Danson said: “The idea is based on somewhere like Boxpark in Shoreditch and the aim is to channel the footfall around Spinningfields in a more effective way.”
The pop-up mall is expected to remain on site for five years and will also include a cycle facility and showers.
Work on the village will start on site next month, in time for a summer opening.
simon.binns@estatesgazette.com
