A high street in Poole, Dorset, has staged a remarkable recovery after tenants were given a two-year rent holiday by Legal & General Investment Management.
Kingland Crescent has been transformed from a row of empty stores and boarded up windows into a thriving street of independent retailers, after LGIM, which also owns the adjacent Dolphin shopping centre, began the pilot project in early 2021.
About 60% of the original brands that took part in the rent-free project are still operating and now paying rent, while the remaining spaces were quickly occupied by new rent-paying tenants.
LGIM said that since the opening of new operators this year, average turnover per unit has increased by 36% for the months between March and May, compared with the equivalent period in 2022.
Total turnover across all operators, even though one has yet to open, is up by 9%.
LGIM is now looking at the data and considering what could be replicated elsewhere.
