Canary Wharf Group is shunning traditional retailers and restaurants in favour of “cool, trendy” occupiers to draw visitors and residents to the area.
Neapolitan pizza chain Franco Manca, street food market provider London Union, New York burger joint Shake Shack and charitable coffee chain the Department of Coffee and Social Affairs are all due to open this year. The developer is looking to attract similar kinds of leisure and retail occupiers to its next phase before the first office tenants move in.
Canary Wharf Group managing director Richard Archer told EG the developer is looking to secure similar kinds of “cool, trendy” leisure and retail occupiers to its planned new 22-acre district before it signs its first office tenant.
“We own all the retail here, so it’s not a case of there being another landlord who will say, ‘I want the best deal and I’ll just bring in a Boots or an M&S because that’s what I want,’” Archer said. “Before we have the first office tenant, we want to have a couple of these cool, trendy sort of things that bring people in.”
Formerly known as Wood Wharf, the next phase comprises 1.9m sq ft of commercial office space, more than 3,300 homes and 335,000 sq ft of shops, restaurant and community use, is estimated to be completed in 2023. The developer has hired a branding team to rebrand the new district around the concept of “live work”. Five months ago, it launched an Instagram account which now has more than 2,000 followers. An events team plans 200 events a year for the district such as the popular Winter Lights Festival.
“This is the next big area where you can really have this great diverse environment of live-work,” Archer said. “And I think once we get it and we handle the marketing and how we and the team deal with it, I think we’ll nail it.” CBRE, JLL and Cushman & Wakefield have been jointly instructed as leasing agents on the project.
Head of retail leasing at Canary Wharf Group Stuart Fyfe said the group would turn away established retailers and restaurants which didn’t fit into the vision for the next stage of Canary Wharf’s evolution. “It’s a balance between giving the customers what they want and giving them new brands and concepts that they might not be aware of,” he said.
There is a shift taking place from a focus of catering to office workers to one which caters for residents.
“Perhaps some of our trading in the mall today is very focused around breakfast, lunch, dinner,” Fyfe said. “Having residents evens that out much more throughout the day, we can create [more activity] later in the evening.”
The existing Canary Wharf Estate comprises around 1m sq ft of retail across five shopping malls.
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