According to Steve Yewman, a director at developer Minerva, his firm has “the Croydon version of Selfridges” up its sleeve. Yewman admits that the site in question – the 300,000 sq ft Allders department store on the town’s main shopping pitch of North End – looks anything but grand at present. But, he says, Minerva harbours plans to reconfigure the store, which features a huge facade fronting the pitch.
“This part of the store has been unloved for many years and we are aiming to bring it back to life,” says Yewman. “We can provide at least four major store units, but this is not just about creating new units, we are also improving the footprint for Allders.”
Under the proposal, the department store will continue to occupy around half of the existing space, while new shops will offer 7,000 sq ft on the ground floor and around 40,000 sq ft over three further levels above.
The project is a far cry from the 900,000 sq ft Park Place shopping complex that Minerva and Croydon council had hoped to deliver at the site. Since the development agreement for the project was torn up in 2009, there has been much speculation about what will happen in the area that the council has branded “Mid-Croydon”.
Last year, the council floated the idea of a 500,000 sq ft office and residential-led scheme, and indicated that it was working on a masterplan for the area, but no firm plans have materialised. Talks are understood to be ongoing with Minerva, which owns four acres at the site, in addition to the two-acre Allders store.
Significant development
The consensus among property commentators locally is that significant development on the former Park Place site is unlikely within the next five years, at least. And, they suggest, that may not be such a bad thing.
Steve Morgan, a partner at Cushman & Wakefield, says: “The cloud of Park Place has been hanging over Croydon for many years, and there has been something of an obsession with adding space to the 2.25m sq ft already in the town, which is nearly twice the size of Kingston. To go to 3m sq ft would have had quite a damaging effect on Croydon.”
Meanwhile, if Minerva does decide to proceed with its plans to revamp the Allders store, it could start work this spring for completion by Christmas 2012. Aside from the refurbishment of the North End frontage, planning permission will not be required.
One retailer has already agreed heads of terms, says Yewman, and six others are in discussions. While refusing to be drawn on names and rents involved, he does concede that prime zone A levels in Croydon are “£50 per sq ft lower than in Kingston”, Croydon’s nearest shopping rival, where top rents are believed to be around £300 per sq ft.
With no major retail development planned for Croydon, landlords for the town’s existing shopping space must compete for future requirements. However, Croydon’s retail market strength, at least in the eyes of the investment market, is facing a significant test.
Ownership of the town’s landmark 633,000 sq ft Whitgift Centre is split between Anglo Irish Bank, Royal London Asset Management and the Whitgift Foundation.
Last December, it emerged that Anglo Irish was looking for a joint venture partner for its 50% holding. No deal appears to have been done, however.
St Martins is also expected to sell its 800,000 sq ft Centrale mall on North End as part of plans to offload its £800m UK portfolio. Although it declined to comment, Hammerson is tipped as the favourite to buy the scheme in what would be a boost for Croydon’s retail scene.
Guildford hopes dashed
Guildford council is working on a town centre masterplan that will outline development there for the rest of the decade. It will not be completed until 2012, but it is likely to be heavily influenced by Cushman & Wakefield’s retail development study, which was delivered last March.
The study recommended the redevelopment of North Street, a major shopping pitch, plus the redevelopment of a handful of sites used as car parks. It also suggested extending The Friary, Westfield’s and Hermes’ 140,000 sq ft shopping centre.
A Westfield-led proposal to extend the scheme by 269,000 sq ft won consent in 2004, but the plan eventually hit the buffers because of the recession.
In a shock decision last month, councillors refused Westfield’s application to reconfigure and extend the existing scheme by only 6,400 sq ft.
Planning officers had recommended approval of the plans to create two large stores. This followed their decision in December, under a separate application, to grant consent for three large shops. Retailers keen to take space in Guildford are understood to include Apple, Hollister, River Island, Topshop and Topman.
With historic buildings constraining development elsewhere in the town’s core, pressure is likely to remain on the owners to extend The Friary. Although the 2004 planning application was renewed last year, local market players now accept that an extension is unlikely to be built.
Chris Mansfield, head of economic development at the council, says: “Town centre expansion has moved away from closed boxes to open places. This would prompt a different approach, and we would fully anticipate and welcome any changes to the Friary scheme.”
No proposals have yet come forward, and hopes have faded of a significant number of new shops appearing in the town any time soon. King Sturge partner Stephen Springham says: “It is unlikely that there will be redevelopment around The Friary until at least 2015.”
