The owners of the Burlington Arcade in Mayfair, W1, have poached a new general manager from Harrods and announced a raft of new lettings.
Thor Equities and Mayer Bergman have recruited Caroline Lyons, formerly a brand consultant at PWC and a general merchandise manager at Harrods, to provide ongoing asset management of the Grade II listed asset on Piccadilly, which is up for sale through Michael Elliott for £350m.
The partners have also announced new lettings to fashion brands Mulberry and Manolo Blahnik, handbag designer Sophie Hulme and jewellery maker Azza Fahmy.
Thor and Mayer Bergman are both understood to have a 50% share in the building, and had previously put it up for sale through CBRE with a price tag of £400m.
Recent lettings have been signed at more than £1,500 per sq ft, and the current rent roll is £11,000.
Asset management initiatives also being pursued are the introduction of new underground restaurants covering 8,000 sq ft beneath the freehold site on the Burlington Street side of the building.
There is currently one empty unit in the building.
Mark Shipman, partner at Michael Elliott, said: “It’s a blank canvas; we will treat it as a department store.
“The agents used to put a sign up in the window and say ‘shop to let’, but we have brought in Caroline to actually curate the tenant mix.”
Lyons said: “All the brands that I have met have the perception that it’s jewellery and cashmere. Through the introduction of new brands, including additional food and beverage offerings, we want to make it a proper destination rather than a cut-through.”
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