Since the start of July, only one shopping centre has opened in the North West. The 60,000 sq ft Market Square in Accrington was developed by Helical Retail, in partnership with the local authority, Hyndburn borough council. The town-centre scheme is home to retailers including Wilkinson and JJB Sports.
However, a dozen projects are under construction across the region, including extensions in Manchester, Ellesmere Port and Winsford, schemes in Denton, Manchester, Blackburn and Stockport, and redevelopments in Manchester, Liverpool, Nelson and Sale.
The largest project being developed is the £150m extension and partial redevelopment of Prudential’s Arndale Centre, Manchester. When completed in 2006, the centre will have 1.4m sq ft of city-centre retail space.
Manchester also has the largest retail scheme in the region under construction Pillar’s 310,000 sq ft Manchester Fort Shopping Park in Cheetham Hill. The site, which will open in 2004, is part of the Chartwell portfolio, acquired by Pillar at the start of this year.
The smallest retail scheme under construction is the 60,000 sq ft Courts shopping centre in Stockport. AWG Milln Gate, a joint venture between Milln Gate Developments and AWG Developments, forward sold the Courts to Allied Dunbar Assurance last month for more than £12m, reflecting a yield at 7%. The development is expected to open for trading early next year.
In Kendal, Maple Grove Developments is adding 57,000 sq ft of new retail space in Stricklandgate. The scheme will open next summer and letting agents are Robert Pinkus and Mowbray Gill. In Sale, Warner Estate is redeveloping The Square. The £7m project will be finished in spring next year. The Square was formerly known as the Six Acre Shopping Centre. Boots, WH Smith and Wilkinson anchor the 240,000 sq ft shopping centre.
Under construction and in the pipeline
Work on the Met Quarter project in Liverpool’s city centre should start by the end of the year, with shops expected to be open for trading in spring 2005. John Milligan’s Retail Resorts International has teamed up with the scheme’s original developer, the Walton Group, on the project.
Also in Liverpool, Grosvenor has recently unveiled designs for its £800m Paradise Street regeneration project, despite Henderson Global Investors pulling out of the scheme earlier this year. The development will have 800,000 sq ft of retail space.
Across the North West and Cumbria, 14 retail developments have been granted planning consent. There are also 15 extensions and four redevelopments in the pipeline. The largest schemes are in Wigan and Fleetwood.
Modus Properties’ 350,000 sq ft Grand Arcade shopping centre in Wigan is expected to go on site in autumn 2004 and complete in autumn 2006. And planning consent was awarded last summer for a 220,000 sq ft retail park development at Copse Road in Fleetwood.
Meanwhile, more than 50 retailers have taken space in the North West since the start of July, two of the biggest being Safeway and Wilkinson. The latter has taken a 300,000 sq ft unit in the St John’s Shopping Centre in Liverpool for a rent of £350,00 pa. Blair Kirkman and Legat Owen are letting agents.
The budget store has also taken a unit in the Concourse Shopping Centre in Skelmersdale. This 18,000 sq ft store commands a rent of £125,000. The Concourse centre is a 1960s centre that is jointly owned by London & Cambridge and Threadneedle Property Fund Management.
The Lanes Shopping Centre in Carlisle has attracted three new retailers Morada Interiors, gadgetshop and Dr & Herbs. Morada and gadgetshop have each taken 17,000 sq ft and Dr & Herbs has taken 400 sq ft.
Over that period, 11 retail schemes have been sold in the region, amounting to a quarter of all investment deals across the UK and Ireland over the past four months. The largest sale was in Blackburn and the smallest in Stockport (see table).
Private property company
The most expensive scheme sold was Merseyway Shopping Centre in Stockport, where Hammerson sold its leasehold interest for £128m to a private property company thought to be Buckingham Securities for the Jersey-based Halabi family trust. Donaldsons and CB Richard Ellis advised Hammerson.
In August, Standard Life Investments sold the 535,000 sq ft Blackburn Shopping Centre for more than £100m to REIT Asset Management. Major tenants include Bhs, Debenhams, Boots and Tesco Metro. Andrew Goddard acted for the buyer.
In Ashton under Lyne, Tops Estates sold the 150,000 sq ft Ladysmith Shopping Centre to Sellar Property Group for £34m. Tops Estates has invested several million pounds on improvements to the centre over the past few years.
