Redwood kick-starts communications campaign to launch the UK’s first full price / outlet retail hybrid
Redwood client, Princes Quay, the 300,000 sq ft shopping centre in the heart of Hull City Centre, is to undergo a unique and innovative remodelling and repositioning project.
The £20m investment will produce a new urban centre concept, combining the existing cinema, shopping and food and beverage offer, with an outlet mall and new restaurants, taking advantage of the centres attractive waterfront setting.
The project has been created and is now being delivered by Fund Managers Seven Dials and Realm, as Asset and Development Managers. It is the first time in the UK that outlet retailing has been combined under one roof with full price retailing.
Redwood is supporting the communications programme around the repositioning and last month kick-started a PR campaign around the UK’s first hybrid model and an innovative approach to city-centre outlet shopping.
The strategic repositioning project will introduce 24 new fashion brands spanning 51,000 sq ft on an Outlet Deck within the scheme. In addition, it will establish a revised waterfront dining hub on the Harbour Deck, with space for seven additional restaurant and cafe units across 18,000 sq ft.
55% of the outlet mall has already been prelet and Next have exchanged to anchor the new mall with a new 11,000 sq ft store.
Princes Quay already boasts an extensive full price retail offer comprising a number of popular fashion brands include Primark, Topshop and River Island, alongside a 10 screen Vue Cinema and a 900 space multi storey car park.
Colin Brooks, Managing Director of Realm commented: “The introduction of an outlet mall into an existing City Centre shopping scheme is a first for the UK. 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. 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.”
Mickola Wilson of Seven Dials commented: “In addition to satisfying changing consumers’ needs, the repositioning significantly enhances the investment characteristics of the centre. This includes; the diversification of
risk by the incorporation of a blend of complimentary elements; improvement in the supply and demand balance in the separate sectors thereby enhancing potential for income growth; the capture of trading data and proactive asset management that is synonymous with outlet centres; and the turnover based leasing model allowing rental growth to be secured earlier in the cycle than the traditional five-yearly rent review model. The overall quality of tenant covenants will improve, and the centre will be better placed over time to profit from the changing consumer environment than its competitors that cannot provide the extent and variety of offer that is being created.”
The project will underpin Princes Quays’ reputation in the City as a full day family entertainment, shopping and leisure destination when it commences on site in early October. The centre will remain fully open during the work and will be relaunched to the public in Summer next year.