Covent Garden drives growth at CapCo
Published: 09 November, 2010
Central London specialist Capital & Counties has reported strong growth at its Covent Garden estate
The opening of the world’s largest Apple store in August 2010 attracted over 20,000 visitors on its first day of trade which helped to drive an 11 per cent footfall uplift in Covent Garden in the first month of trading and continues to attract high numbers of visitors.
The Apple letting was only one part of the repositioning plan for the Covent Garden estate, and other lettings include Laduree, Whistles, Jack Wolfskin, Pandora and Sunglass Hut which set a new record Zone A rent level for James Street.
In addition to this, two high profile exclusive “pop-up” stores have opened: Lucy in Disguise by Lily Allen and, for the first time in the UK, American label Kate Spade.
Capital & Counties is also pursuing a strategy to establish King Street as a luxury destination, and a letting to Burberry in August has been followed with a highly competitive pitch between three international luxury brands resulting in an agreement to lease 43 King Street to Rugby Ralph Lauren.
At the same time a revised planning application for a destination restaurant and cultural offering for the Flower Cellars has been submitted to Westminster Council.
The estate has an occupancy rate of 97.1 per cent adjusted for areas held for development and under offer as at 30 September. Footfall for the 12 months to September increased 7 per cent to 46.4 million visitors.
CapCo chief executive Ian Hawksworth said: “We have continued to make good progress across the business in the implementation of our strategy to unlock latent value from our estates. Further progress has been made in Covent Garden with strong demand from retailers driving rents in excess of the valuer’s June 2010 estimates of ERV.”
