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Retail News
One of the Midlands’ leading retail property consultancies has secured one of the biggest instructions in the industry after being chosen as joint agent for Nottingham’s two major shopping centres.
FHP won a competitive pitch against national and regional rivals to take on the marketing of the Victoria Centre (985,000 sq ft) and Broadmarsh (465,000 sq ft) in Nottingham for Intu Properties plc, working alongside the London office of Jones Lang LaSalle to provide development advice and act as letting agents.
Ben Tebbutt, a Director in FHP’s retail and leisure team, said: “We’re thrilled to be working with Intu, especially at a time when it has announced its intentions to bring such significant investment to both centres. Being appointed on both schemes ensures that we can deliver complementary retailers and operators to both centres in Nottingham.”
Intu has been the long term owner of the Victoria Centre, Nottingham’s flagship retail mall. It acquired Broadmarsh from previous owner Westfield in late 2011, and has since been drawing up detailed plans for the complementary redevelopment of both centres.
FHP already acts as agents to a number of major shopping centres across the East Midlands including Westfield Derby, the St Mark’s Centre at Newark, the Four Seasons Centre in Mansfield and the Idlewells Centre in Sutton-in-Ashfield. It has also played a prominent role in the development of the retail heart of Nottingham city centre for more than 20 years, having been responsible for the delivery of The Cornerhouse leisure destination and the majority of lettings in and around Bridlesmith Gate
Alan Pearson, Associate Director at FHP, says: “Nottingham has continued to perform strongly as a retail destination during the economic downturn, and the announcement by John Lewis that it is to invest more than £1 million improving and expanding its flagship store in the Victoria Centre confirms the city’s continuing strength. It is one of a number of major retail brands which both of Intu’s centres host, others including House of Fraser, Bhs, Tesco, Monsoon and JD Sports to name but a few.”
Ben Tebbutt added: “There are a number of other major retailers who still want to come to Nottingham and we are currently in discussions with several of them. We hope to be in a position to make some positive announcements about them soon. Intu’s recent announcement of a £35m asset enhancement project at Victoria Centre will support these discussions.
David Hargreaves, founding Partner, of FHP, said: “In a difficult economic climate retail certainly has its challenges, but the doom-laden headlines are misleading. In the midst of a downturn we have seen major retail brands continue to come to Nottingham because it is a great city at the heart of a large, affluent catchment. The John Lewis investment is a significant vote of confidence.
“Not only has the city more than held its own, it is now undergoing a massive investment in transport infrastructure which is going to make it an even more attractive and accessible place to visit. We have £570m being spent on new tram lines, £60m being invested in turning the railway station into a transport interchange, and the A453 being widened into a dual carriageway at a cost of £150m. There is also an exciting plan to develop a new Creative Quarter very close to the city centre, and the kind of businesses this initiative will attract can only be good news for the health of the retail economy.”
While traditional high streets have been put under pressure by the downturn and the growth in online purchasing, Ben Tebbutt says the future for major cities like Nottingham lies in continuing to develop facilities and staging events which underline its status as an all-round retail and leisure destination.
He concluded: “A central part of that lies in developing state-of-the-art retail environments and that is what Intu is committed to. It is one of the biggest names in large-scale retail investment, development and management, and we will be working with them to bring great brands into the prime locations in a top city. When you put that expertise together with the plans for large-scale investment in improving Nottingham’s economy we have every reason to be bullish about the future for retail here.”