In pictures: Westfield confirms raft of retailers for Stratford City

  Westfield has confirmed a string of major retailer lettings at Stratford City, E15, making the development 60% leased or committed.   In its first-quarter review, Westfield revealed that retailers who have recently agreed shops at the 1.9m sq ft scheme include:   –          Primark – 66,900 sq ft –          Next – 40,300 sq ft –          Forever 21 – 65,600 sq ft –          Topshop – 36,000 sq ft –          H&M -32,300 sq ft –          Monsoon – 10,300 sq ft –          River Island – 15,600 sq ft –          WH Smiths – 6,900 sq ft –          Boots – 23,700 sq ft –          Esprit – 10,600 sq ft   Westfield Stratford City, which sits at the gateway to the Olympics Park, is anchored by John Lewis, Marks & Spencer, Waitrose and a Vue cinema.       It is due to be completed for the second half of 2011 and remains in line to cost £1.45bn with a forecast yield of 7 – 7.5%.   Michael Gutman, Westfield UK & European managing director, said: “With stores trading so strongly at Westfield London and the striking quality of the space being constructed at Westfield Stratford City, the larger format component, which is roughly 30% of the scheme’s area, is now virtually fully committed.   “With the anchors and larger format stores now largely in place, leasing focus is now on the specialty stores where demand has also been strong.”   At 31 March 2010, Westfield’s UK portfolio was 98.8% leased. In Q1, it completed 30 deals totalling 86,000 sq ft.   Westfield’s flagship shopping centre at White City, W12, is 99% let and footfall for the quarter is up 12.8% on last year.   Total sales at the scheme were up 24.1% and sales on a like-for-like basis were up 16.5% in Q1 2010.   Westfield said that post 2010, it expects to start between $500m and $1bn of development projects per annum.   It is currently undertaking pre-development activity on approximately $10bn of future development opportunities worldwide, including those in Bradford and Nottingham in the UK.   For more on this see Estates Gazette’s Olympics blog   annabel.dixon@estatesgazette.com