White Rose top performer for Land Securities
White Rose in Leeds was the best performing shopping centre in Land Securities' portfolio over the past year and the city is set to leapfrog Manchester as the North of England's biggest retail centre once the new Trinity Leeds scheme opens in two years' time.
White Rose beat all of Land Securities' other shopping centres around the country including Birmingham, Liverpool and Sunderland as shoppers flocked to the site in South Leeds.
In the year to March 31 the number of shoppers visiting White Rose increased from 12.26 million to 12.5 million, a rise of 240,000.
Land Securities' portfolio director for the North Gerald Jennings said retailers are so keen to get a space in White Rose that the site has managed to raise rental rates by 2.5 per cent, a much higher rate than elsewhere in the country.
"Retailers are willing to pay extra because they know White Rose performs very well," said Mr Jennings. "The centre is outperforming because of the line-up of retailers, good customer service, ample parking space and good accessibility to Leeds city centre."
White Rose's big four retailers are Marks & Spencer, Primark, Next and River Island.
Leeds will leapfrog Manchester as the UK's fourth biggest retail centre behind London, Birmingham and Glasgow once the £650m Trinity Leeds development opens in October 2010.
The new shopping centre will be the city centre's first one million sq ft regional shopping destination with over 120 units.
Trinity Leeds is a joint venture with Caddick Developments that will bring together the Leeds Shopping Plaza and the Trinity Quarter into a fully-integrated centre running from Briggate to City Square and incorporating Albion Street.
The investment has been made possible through the disposal of other assets including the sale of the Coppergate Centre in York to LaSelle Investment Management.
"Some schemes were prioritised and in our view we felt we ought to concentrate on other schemes rather than York," said Mr Jennings.
Land Securities will remain an investor in York with the Hungate regeneration scheme, a 700-plus residential-led mixed use development.
While much of the focus over the past six months has been on Leeds, the group has also strengthened its offer in Harrogate with the opening of the town's first H&M store at the Victoria Shopping Centre.
Mr Jennings was speaking yesterday as Land Securities reported a £1.28bn markdown in the value of its properties to £13.5bn in the year to March 31, but this was better than many rivals and beat the industry benchmark by a long way.
The company, Britain's biggest real estate firm, said its property had fallen in value by 8.8 per cent compared to the 14 per cent decline in the market as a whole.
"I think it's fair to say our results reflect what we've all known for some time – the property market has undergone a period of rapid repricing," said Land Securities chief executive Francis Salway.
Despite the downturn, Land Securities said it had sold in excess of £1.5bn of properties over the period, at prices 5.3 per cent ahead of March 2007 valuations.
But the better-than-expected figures were offset by hefty falls in pre-tax profits and adjusted diluted net asset value, which were both hit by the markdown in the value of its portfolio.
The company posted a 10.3 per cent fall in adjusted diluted net asset value to 1,956 pence and a £888.8m pre-tax loss, which compares with a £1,979m pre-tax profit in the previous year.
Posted: Thursday, May 15, 2008
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