The Crown Estate is continuing to strengthen its portfolio with the development of a number of new leisure units at Victoria Retail Park, Nottingham.
The diverse property business has secured leading leisure brands Costa Coffee and Frankie and Benny’s for the park, whilst it is also to relocate an existing McDonald’s.
Frankie and Benny’s has agreed to take a new restaurant pod – spanning 4,000 sq ft – as part of a 25 year lease. The popular Italian-American diner will sit alongside existing anchor brands such as Tesco Homeplus and Next, whilst Costa Coffee will take a 1,500 sq ft unit, at a rent of £30 per sq ft on a 10 year lease.
Meanwhile, fast food chain McDonald’s has surrendered its lease and has signed a new agreement to relocate to a new 3,560 sq ft unit. McDonald’s and The Crown Estate have agreed a 20 year lease and McDonald’s will pay £27.50 per sq ft.
Wilkinson Williams acted for The Crown Estate, Perkins Fox acted for McDonald’s, Savills acted for Costa and Wareing and Partners acted for Frankie and Benny’s.
Longcross is the main contractor working on all the new developments on the Victoria Retail Park projects, whilst Mountford Piggott Partnership is providing architectural services. Litchford is the development manager and Barlow’s Fit-Out Contractors are involved with interior fit-out works on McDonald’s.
Commenting on the new developments, Hannah Milne, The Crown Estate’s Regional Portfolio Manager said:
“We are committed to positive asset management across our portfolio to both enhance the visitor experience at our regional retail and leisure schemes and maximise the performance of our estate. Construction of these units will make better use of undeveloped land, providing the opportunity to introduce new leisure providers that will increase the amount of time visitors spend at the park.”
Hannah added:
“These deals demonstrate the enhanced leisure offering we are creating at Victoria Retail Park and our ability to attract leading names to the site is testament to our long-term strategy for the park. Restaurant brands and coffee operators are recognised footfall drivers and we are confident these will help provide a stronger, more rounded tenant mix.”
Purchased in 2010 for £57 million from HSBC Special Investments, Victoria Retail Park includes 201,500 sq ft of retail space. Leading brands that operate from the site include, Argos, Boots, Halfords, Tesco, B&Q and many more.
The Crown Estate manages a highly diverse property business, which is valued at more than £8 billion, with Victoria Retail Park making up part of the Estate’s regional property portfolio, now valued at over £1.6 billion. The portfolio includes 15 retail parks, three shopping centres and a regionally dominant leisure scheme.
In addition to its retail parks, The Crown Estate manages a diverse property portfolio which includes office, retail and industrial premises, housing, farmland, forestry and minerals, parkland, and around half the foreshore and almost all the seabed around the UK.
The responsibilities of The Crown Estate are to maintain and enhance the value of the estate and its income over the long term. The Crown Estate pays a surplus revenue (profit) to the Treasury for the benefit of the nation every year and over the past ten years has paid out almost £2 billion to the Treasury.
For more information on The Crown Estate, please visit: www.thecrownestate.co.uk.
