Retail: redeveloping for greater strength

News

04 March 1995

Brewery owner Whitbread has selected Hammerson as its development partner, after a limited competition which included Boots Properties. A planning application has been submitted for a 376,600 sq ft (35,000m²) covered shopping centre, designed by Chapman Taylor Partners.

House of Fraser has signed for one anchor store, signalling its intention to relocate from the established prime pitch, Week Street, and the scheme will also be anchored by two other variety stores. One of these could well go to Boots, which, as well as competing for the right to develop the site, has put its store in the Prudential’s Chequers Centre on the market.

“We’re seeing a very positive attitude from retailers,” says Chris Geaves of Strutt & Parker, which advises Hammerson. DTZ Debenham Thorpe acted for Whitbread.

Maidstone Borough Council is keen to see the development of the Fremlins site before Lend Lease is able to complete its development of Bluewater Park – Europe’s biggest shopping centre – at Dartford. But it now looks likely that a compulsory purchase order, with all the attendant formalities, will be necessary to complete the site acquisition.

Local agents are convinced that the scheme will be good for Maidstone, but they do not expect some of the smaller retailers to acknowledge its potential until it is under construction. One part of town which stands to gain from the development is Royal Star Arcade, a covered mall developed in the late 1980s by Speciality Shops.

David Houghton, managing director of Speciality Shops, says: “Fremlins will significantly increase and enhance Maidstone retail, and it will switch the emphasis to the area surrounding Royal Star Arcade.” Houghton says that letting agents Lawson Price and Brian Cradick are experiencing strong interest in the scheme, and this has encouraged Speciality Shops to press ahead with a proposal to extend the development with two larger units.

In addition to the Fremlins development, Maidstone council has secured the redevelopment of another important riverside site on the opposite bank of the Medway. The Lockmeadow market site, home to Maidstone’s cattle and sheep market, is now the subject of a plan by Leisure England to build a mixed-use leisure complex. This will include a multiplex cinema, nightclub, restaurants, bingo hall, fast-food outlets and car parking.

Maidstone is already one of the strongest town centres in Kent, and it is set to become even stronger with the realisation of plans to redevelop the Fremlins brewery site, which lies between the existing retail area and the river Medway. Brewery owner Whitbread has selected Hammerson as its development partner, after a limited competition which included Boots Properties. A planning application has been submitted for a 376,600 sq ft (35,000m2) covered shopping centre, designed by Chapman Taylor Partners. House of Fraser has signed for one anchor store, signalling its intention to relocate from the established prime pitch, Week Street, and the scheme will also be anchored by two other variety stores. One of these could well go to Boots, which, as well as competing for the right to develop the site, has put its store in the Prudential’s Chequers Centre on the market. “We’re seeing a very positive attitude from retailers,” says Chris Geaves of Strutt & Parker, which advises Hammerson. DTZ Debenham Thorpe acted for Whitbread. Maidstone Borough Council is keen to see the development of the Fremlins site before Lend Lease is able to complete its development of Bluewater Park – Europe’s biggest shopping centre – at Dartford. But it now looks likely that a compulsory purchase order, with all the attendant formalities, will be necessary to complete the site acquisition. Local agents are convinced that the scheme will be good for Maidstone, but they do not expect some of the smaller retailers to acknowledge its potential until it is under construction. One part of town which stands to gain from the development is Royal Star Arcade, a covered mall developed in the late 1980s by Speciality Shops. David Houghton, managing director of Speciality Shops, says: “Fremlins will significantly increase and enhance Maidstone retail, and it will switch the emphasis to the area surrounding Royal Star Arcade.” Houghton says that letting agents Lawson Price and Brian Cradick are experiencing strong interest in the scheme, and this has encouraged Speciality Shops to press ahead with a proposal to extend the development with two larger units. In addition to the Fremlins development, Maidstone council has secured the redevelopment of another important riverside site on the opposite bank of the Medway. The Lockmeadow market site, home to Maidstone’s cattle and sheep market, is now the subject of a plan by Leisure England to build a mixed-use leisure complex. This will include a multiplex cinema, nightclub, restaurants, bingo hall, fast-food outlets and car parking.