M&G Real Estate and UK REIT Intu have announced plans for an £11 mln (€14.3 mln) redevelopment of Halle Square at Manchester Arndale.
The 25,000 sq ft (7,620 m2) space will be rebranded as 'Halle Place' and will deliver a new contemporary casual dining destination at the heart of the shopping centre.
Manchester Arndale is one of Europe’s largest inner city shopping centres. It is owned jointly by M&G Real Estate and Intu, and is managed by CBRE. The retained agents are JLL and Metis Real Estate Advisors.
The co-owners saw a significant opportunity to invest in improving Manchester Arndale’s dining provision to complement the retail mix, Kannika Mall, Asset Manager at M&G Real Estate, said. 'Halle Place is a step-change for the food and beverage offer in Manchester city centre. The development will offer our shoppers a place where they can socialise and eat within an attractive and welcoming space. It will provide a new focal point for this part of the centre, increasing Manchester Arndale’s customer footfall and dwell time.'
Halle Place will encompass the ground floor of the existing Halle Square, which is already a key hub at the heart of the 1.4 mln sq ft shopping centre, and new escalators to link it to the upper level. The new dining destination will provide shoppers with a diverse selection of the UK’s most popular food and beverage brands.
'Whole-day' destination
The Halle Place development demonstrates the increasing importance of providing shoppers with a ‘whole-day’ destination. The design is experience-led, creating a sense of place in its own right within the busy shopping centre setting. Each restaurant will offer ‘al fresco’ style seating in the mall area, encircling a suspended public art centrepiece in the centre of a striking, open double-height atrium area.
Construction of Halle Place is expected to complete in 2018, subject to planning, and will include 10 different restaurant units and a café on the ground floor in the middle of the atrium.
Ahead of a planning application being submitted this week for change of use, a number of restaurant operators have already submitted conditional offers for the new units, the companies said in an announcement.
intu is the UK's leading owner, manager and developer of prime regional shopping centres with a growing presence in Spain.
M&G Real Estate is the real estate fund management arm of M&G and is one of the top 25 real estate fund managers in the world by assets under management, with over £25 bn invested in a broad spread of properties across Europe, North America and the Asia Pacific region (as of 31 December 2015).
