Cardiff’s Capitol Shopping Centre To Welcome New Anchors [As Part Of Major Investment By Moorfield]

14/05/2012

Capitol Shopping Centre in Cardiff, is to undertake a major investment programme which will see Tesco and easyGym open in the city centre scheme.

Tesco will open an 11,590 sq ft ground floor unit on a 20 year lease. They will pay a £250,000 rent pa for the store which will be their Metro store concept.

Meanwhile low cost membership fitness centre group, easygym is to take a 17,500 sq ft first floor unit overlooking Queen Street. easyGym will pay a rent of £140,000 pa after signing a 20 year lease at Capitol. It will be Easygym’s third opening in the UK.

The addition of Tesco and easyGym will complement the existing retail mix and will help increase footfall from Queen Street.

As well as the new anchors, Caffe Nero has also signed a 10 year lease for a 1,500 sq ft store fronting Queen Street. Caffe Nero will pay a £50,000 rent per annum and are due to begin their fit out at the start May.

Speaking about the deals, Mark Holmes of Moorfield Group, the investment and asset manager of the Moorfield Real Estate Fund (MREF) which owns the centre, said: “These anchors will help to drive footfall and broaden the appeal of the Centre. The retailers have located in Capitol to benefit from the busy footfall of Queen Street which according to Cardiff Council footfall figures is still the premier shopping location in Cardiff.

“Capitol Shopping Centre also benefits from the significant footfall from Queen Street railway station which is about to undergo a refurbishment including additional platforms to accommodate over 4 million users each year.”

Reconfiguration works in the centre will begin in May with the new anchor stores due to open in the Autumn 2012.

Capitol Shopping Centre was acquired by MREF in November 2005 and is managed by Plus Shops Retail Ltd. The scheme currently totals 160,000 sq ft of retail accommodation across two levels, together with an adjoining 420 space car park. The centre is home to a multitude of leading brands including H&M, Hobbs, Phase Eight, Jaeger and Fat Face.

Kitchen La Frenais Morgan and Macarthur Wilson acted for Moorfield Group, EJ Hales advised Tesco while Lyndon Yeomans represented Easygym.

Yes, well. The deals were well known. 'Polishing a turd' is the phrase that springs to mind.
No details or figures given for the "investment". I'll believe it when I see it. Bigging it up, prior to sale.

Tesco, fair enough I guess (although Cardiff does have a stupid number of Tescos). It will bring people in, but whether they'll use any of the other stores is debatable.

Easygym, oh dear... I'm not sure if that's better or worse than having a £1 shop open-up there (like in the galleries shopping centre in Bristol where a massive 99p shop is due to open soon). Most people use the gym in the evening don't they, not sure how good that'll be for trade?

I wonder if this will drive the high-end retailers to SD2 (or nearby)? As it's becoming obvious that (in general) Queen St., Capitol and SD1 will be for the big high st. chains (boots, primark, M&S, sainsburys, tesco etc.) and SD2, the hayes and arcades will be for the more "exclusive" retailers.

I expect the place to be flogged off soon as well.

its a car crash of a shopping centre. shame as its the gateway to the retail offering the city has (from a certain direction).

Can any one remember the plans they had a while back (pre credit crunch) where they were going to redevelop the entire site and put a 25 storey apartment tower on top of the centre.

I don't think Cardiff per se has too many Tescos..I think everywhere has too many. We are no different..I think I read that Bristol has the most per population.

I have no problem with easygym..good for them.

Cardiff city centre actually doesn't really have a 'cheap street', where the Wilkos, pound stores etc all gather. Most cities have one, but we don't. It's natural for them to develop in most cities and if the consequence of the enormous benefits of SD2 is the natural emergence of a cheaper shopping area elsewhere, then so be it.

People can move to North Korea if they don't want to see the market in action!

That might be trite, but seriously has no one else on here been poor? I have. Plenty of people in Cardiff are poor, and they shouldn't be excluded from their own city centre.

I think easy gym is a great addition in many regards, all apart from the potential colour scheme. I think a gym in the city centre will be used all day through and the views from the running macjines will probably be good looking out the glass at the front of capital. Nothing wrong with exercising in the city centre. But I worry that in a Sports Direct kind of way the EasyGym bright orange logo will be slapped around too clearly. I've previously looked at images inside one of their gyms and I wouldn't join because of the colour scheme alone. The organse was too overwhelming for it to be a relaxing/enjoyable space to work out in.