Capital Shopping Centres is working up plans to add a 400,000 sq ft extension to its Victoria Centre shopping mall in Nottingham.
CSC, which next week will be spun out of parent company Liberty International to become a UK regional shopping centre REIT, is carrying out feasibility studies with the city council on where to site the extension to the 981,000 sq ft shopping centre.
Martin Breedon, director of asset management for CSC’s Northern portfolio, said: “We’ve already got John Lewis, House of Fraser, Next and Boots in the centre, and there is an opportunity to react to demand in the city and provide further, modern flagship shops. We’re working up schematic designs and a planning application now.”
He added: “Plans include knocking down the bus station and car park, resiting the station elsewhere in the city, and providing a replacement car park in the basement of the existing scheme.
“There’s definitely a big opportunity here.”
In its final set of results ahead of its split, Liberty this week said that it was pushing ahead with £125m of “identified, revenue-enhancing, active management opportunities” across CSC malls, and that it was “continuing to explore a number of major extensions to larger centres, with a view to strengthening their market positions”.
CSC’s plans for the Victoria Centre would see it steal a march on rival Westfield, which – with joint venture partner Royal Mail Pension Fund – has been trying since 2002 to redevelop its outdated, 450,000 sq ft Broadmarsh centre in Nottingham.
However, plans were put on hold because of the credit crunch and a smaller reconfiguration is now planned.
