manchester Arndale's new market
Attractive Arndale
Published: 13 September, 2006
After eight years of planning and four years of construction, the completed Manchester Arndale opened this month.
The Wintergarden is the final stage in the scheme, which now boasts 1.4 million sq ft of retail space and more than 200 stores, cafes and restaurants, making it the largest in-town shopping centre in the UK.
Developer, manager and joint owner of the centre Prudential invested some £170m into the works, including £20m spent on the Foodchain food hall, Halle Square and the recladding of the centre's Market Street exterior.
The IRA bomb, which exploded on Corporation Street in June 1996, affected many city centre retailers as well as Manchester Arndale, where mainly the western end of the centre was affected, including the old food court and various key retailers such as WH Smith and Argos. It was this that prompted the move for regeneration of the city centre, including Manchester Arndale.
Centre manager Glen Barkworth says: "The Pru took over from P&O in 1998 and took over a scenario where development was being talked about.
"I came in 2000 and the first thing I looked to was the existing centre and how we could ensure that, if we were going to add this glamorous jewel onto it, the existing centre looked good too." As a result £12m was spent on refurbishing the malls, including laying down a million floor tiles and opening up the malls to natural light.
The new extension, completed in three phases, has added 80 units and only 11 remain available.
The first phase of the centre's extension was Exchange Court, which opened in October 2005. As well as creating larger units for retailers such as Next, which took 150,000 sq ft for its largest store to date, and River Island, the area brought eateries into the scheme for the first time, with Eat, Starbucks and Est taking space.
Phase 2 was the opening of New Cannon Street in April this year, which created 30 new units and was built on the same area where Cannon Street used to pass right through the middle of the centre. The new mall has brought a number of new names to Manchester for the first time including Fossil, Animal, Hotel Chocolat, Bershka, Bratz and Pumpkin Patch. Topshop/Topman relocated to the new mall to take advantage of a larger store format and the store is now their second largest next to the Oxford Street flagship. Meanwhile Warehouse, Coast, Samsonite and Principles, as well as Apple, are set to open their new stores in time for Christmas trading.
The Wintergarden was the final phase, joining the whole centre into a big loop. The main feature of the Wintergarden is the massive 100 ft high 'cathedral' glazed atrium. The area joins the mall to the 1,600-space car park, which now links directly onto the malls on both levels. New Look and Billabong have already signed, while Waterstones opened on launch day. A major part of the area will also be dedicated to restaurants and eateries, including Nandos.
"One of the highlights of this final phase is a market where the quality of shopfit is as good as the malls," says Barkworth, who explains the area is split between general goods and a food area, which includes a fresh fish counter, bar serving specially brewed Arndale Ale, a fruit and vegetable stall with plasma screens and a sushi bar. "It's not to target the market shopper, but the city dweller who will come here on a regular basis to buy fresh provisions," Barkworth adds.
There are currently six units available in the Wintergarden underneath the multi-storey car park and marketing of these will begin now the phase has opened. In New Cannon Street five units remain available. Units have been achieving £210 psf zone A.
"Retailers have two opening windows a year between now and Christmas and then probably next spring," says leasing director Chris Pyne who is delighted with the new names attracted to the centre.
"That's what it's all about to keep shoppers coming to Manchester city centre," he adds. "They have Trafford, Liverpool and the suburb towns so to keep coming here we have to have something different."
Stephen Tregenza of Tushingham Moore, joint agent with CBRE and Lunson Mitchenall, adds: "We are very positive. The market is unquestionably very difficult at the moment but in spite of that we have attracted some great names.
"We have set out to try and move Arndale up and allow it to attract a more affluent customer."
Now fully open, the centre expects to attract between 35 and 40 million visitors a year.
