 Trinity Leeds is tipped to be the next big retail development in the UK and has already secured an abundance of top retailers ahead of its opening in Spring 2013. RLI speaks to John Grimes, Retail Leasing Director at Land Securities, about Trinity Leeds and what it has to offer.
Land Securities is a FTSE 100 company and the largest Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) in the UK on the basis of equity market capitalisation.
The company owns, develops and manages offices, shopping centres and retail parks in the UK, creating long-term value for shareholders and opportunities for employees.
The company boasts a retail portfolio of 25 shopping centres, 20 retail parks, and 20.6 million sq ft of retail accommodation housing around 1,600 retailers. It is currently concentrating on Trinity Leeds – a redevelopment of prime retail space in the city centre of Leeds in the North of England.
Leeds is the UK’s largest legal and financial centre outside of London and is the third largest city in the country and is widely regarded as one of the UK’s best retail destinations.
The scheme itself comprises of 1,000,000 sq ft in the heart of the city and will be a major regeneration of Leeds city centre.
It is bounded by Briggate, one of the UK’s highest footfall locations and prime retail in Leeds, Commercial Street, Boar Lane and Albion Street. Once open it will push Leeds from 7th to 4th in the UK’s retail rankings. John Grimes, Retail Leasing Director at Land Securities, talks about the Trinity Leeds project.
He said: “We are in a challenging economic climate but Trinity Leeds is progressing well and the centre is set to open in Spring 2013.
“We are currently 60 per cent pre-let - which 18 months pre-centre opening is a good place to be. We have captured real leasing momentum and the retailers are really behind us and showing their commitment to the scheme by signing up in the numbers they have this early.”.
He said the units range in size with Primark taking the largest space - over 100,000 sq ft – ranging to the small niche kiosk units of 250 sq ft. The vast majority of the pre-lets are retailers new to Leeds like Mango, Hollister, Cult and Superdry and a number of retailers who are upsizing from their existing units, such as Next who are taking 58,000 sq ft within the new development.
Land Securities are building a state-of-the art new structure on part of the site and transforming the existing Leeds Shopping Plaza to create approximately 120 new retail stores, shops and restaurants.
He adds: “Work on site is rapidly taking shape. The roof structure is almost complete which transforms the appearance of the structure. The grid is in place and the glazing, is expected to go in by the end of November.
“Because the basic structure is in place we are able to facilitate site access for inspection purposes. When a prospective retailer visits Leeds they can walk the site and physically look at the individual units or individual parts of the scheme.”
The progress can be tracked via webcam on www.trinityleeds.com
For the full article, please see the November 2011 issue.
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