Princes Quay, a 300,000 ft2 shopping centre in Hull, UK, has been earmarked for a £20 mln (€22 mln) redevelopment which will see it become one of the first shopping centres in the country to combine full-price and outlet shopping.
Fund managers Seven Dials and Realm, as asset and development manager, are collaborating on the project.
'The introduction of an outlet mall into an existing city centre shopping scheme is a first for the UK,' commented Colin Brooks, managing director of Realm. 'We believe this innovative combination of outlet retail, full price shopping, cinema and enlarged and improved food and beverage offer will further heighten the consumer appeal of the scheme, which already enjoys an annual and rising footfall of five million customers.'
The repositioning project will introduce 24 new fashion brands across 51,000 ft2 on a new Outlet Deck within the scheme. In addition, it will establish a new waterfront dining hub on the Harbour Deck, with space for seven additional restaurant and cafe units spanning 18,000 ft2.
55% of the new outlet mall has already been prelet and Next have exchanged to anchor the new mall with a new 11,000 ft2 store.
'This initiative comes on the back of the growing trend towards urban outlet retail. If the full price / outlet retail hybrid is successful and delivers the anticipated footfall increases we are expecting, it could be an interesting model for urban regeneration elsewhere,' concluded Brooks.
