Going for Gold at Stratford City
Published: 17 June, 2010
Next door to the Olympic Park in Stratford, East London, Europe’s largest urban shopping centre is rapidly taking shape at the 2 million-sq ft Westfield Stratford City
With less than 18 months to go until its launch next Autumn, Westfield Stratford City is now 60 per cent leased or committed, according to group managing director Steven Lowy.
And he told shareholders that delivery of the project remains on program for completion for the second half of 2011 and remains in line with budget in terms of total cost of £1.45bn with a forecast yield of 7-7.5 per cent.
The twin anchors of Marks & Spencer and John Lewis have been in place since before construction began, but recently a number of key larger format retailers have committed to the project including Primark in 67,000 sq ft; Forever 21 in 65,750 sq ft; Next in 41,000 sq ft; Topshop in 36,000 sq ft and H&M in 32,380 sq ft.
Michael Gutman, Westfield’s UK & European managing director, said: “With stores trading so strongly at Westfield London and the striking quality of the space being constructed at Westfield Stratford City, the larger format component, which is roughly 30 per cent of the scheme’s area, is now virtually fully committed. With the anchors and larger format stores now largely in place, leasing focus is now on the specialty stores where demand has also been strong.”
In this area, recent deals have seen Monsoon take 10,350 sq ft; River Island 15,630 sq ft; WH Smith 7,000 sq ft; Boots 23,800 sq ft and Esprit 10,600 sq ft.
Gutman added: “Leasing momentum on the 50 or so food catering units is also outstanding as food operators now appreciate the integrated dining and leisure offer we are promoting off the back of the highly successful result at Westfield London, particularly following the launch of the Vue cinema in February.”
Westfield is just about to hand over the anchor stores to their occupiers and in the main mall the roof is on, the escalators are installed and the flooring is going down. So the format and scale of the scheme is now becoming apparent.
Unusually, Westfield Stratford City will trade on three levels, with a curved triple-deck mall stretching the best part of a quarter of a mile between the two anchors. And because the upper level units are double-height it could be argued that the mall has four trading levels.
Completing the D-shaped circulation route, an open-air boulevard takes a shorter route between Marks & Spencer and John Lewis which will be attractive to retailers not used to trading from a mall environment.
This will be the main access route for hundreds of thousands of visitors entering the Olympic Games in Summer 2012, and it is scaled to handle large crowds. After the games, planting and seating will be installed but initially it will be kept clear.
The John Lewis store is the final part of the centre visitors will see before they cross into the Olympic Park, and crucially the store group has won the rights to be the official stockist of Olympic merchandise.
Befitting a site that will draw visitors from all over the world, Westfield Stratford City benefits from unparalleled connectivity. High-speed trains are already running to London St Pancras in just seven minutes, and the centre also enjoys direct access to the London Underground’s Jubilee and Central lines as well as the network of suburban overground services. All this means it can claim a catchment of more than 4 million people within 45 minutes.
