Shop Norwich:

In February we reported on a development in the hotly contested shopping mall wars in Norwich.  Chapelfield Shopping Centre has been attracting many of the new retailers coming into the City, at the expense of the other shopping destinations and our report on Valentine’s Day related to the recent signing by Boux Avenue, the lingerie retailer.  The pressure has continued and the Castle Mall, which was once Norwich’s premier shopping destination has been sold, primarily due, we understand, to underperformance for the owner.

Capital and Regional have disposed of the shopping centre for £77.3 million to refocus its Mall Fund towards its primarily London based assets.  The new owners are Infrared European Active Real Estate Fund, who are making their third acquisition in shopping centres since returning to the sector last year.  The Galleries in Bristol and St john’s in Liverpool were acquired during last year.   Chris Huxtable, Director at InfraRed said “we plan to add considerable value to the centres through additional investment”.

The Castle Shopping Mall occupies an iconic location in the City, being built directly underneath Norwich’s 12^th Century Norman castle.  With 33,000 m² of lettable space and 80 units and an 8 screen multiplex cinema InfraRed has an ideal opportunity to take advantage of Norwich’s 10^th place UK ranking in retail market

It will be interesting to see if capital investment will help return it to its former position as the City’s premier shopping destination.

Boux Who?

Dragon’s Den star and serial entrepreneur, Theo Paphitis is making preparations to open a new store of his lingerie & nightwear retail chain, Boux Avenue.  The store, the 11^th to open in under a year, will open in the Chapelfield shopping centre in Norwich.  Chapelfield Shopping Centre is owned by Capital Shopping Centres and the Norwich store is the 5^th in the chain to be housed in a CSC development, so something is obviously a good fit.  The other stores are situated in Thurrock, Manchester, Cardiff and Newcastle.

This is a superb opportunity for a gratuitous Valentines Day picture of a display of some of Boux Avenue’s products, but, on this occasion, I will resist.

Happy Valentines Day!

Norwich's Westlegate House goes to Soho

An important development in the commercial property marketplace in Norwich has taken place this week with the announcement of the sale of Westlegate House.  The 11 storey tower building, considered by some to be the ugliest building in Norwich (rather harsh) has, however, stood empty for the past 15 years and this has done nothing to enhance its aesthetic appeal.  The property was on the market for £1 million, and unconfirmed reports suggest it was acquired for a lesser sum than this.

The tower has been bought by Norwich based FW Properties and London based Soho Estates, though a newly created joint venture vehicle called Westlegate Developments Limited.  This is an interesting acquisition for Soho estates, not only due to the nature of the building itself, but also as it represents their first foray outside the capital.  Famed for their ownership of Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club, Soho Estates is Chaired by former Mayorial candidate for London, Steven Norris.  The deal also represents the first acquisition made by FW Properties, which is run by Ian Fox and Julian Wells and based in Prince of Wales Road.

The redevelopment proposals for this building will generate great interest in a number of areas of the local community.  The City Council has planned for some time to improve the general appeal of the area, removing traffic flow from the vicinity being one of the objectives.  The Norwich Society has strong views on the proximity and design of the tower in relation to the adjacent All Saint's Church and a thatched cottage, concerns that were presumably not uppermost in the mind of the City's planners, when the design was approved without discussion in 1959.

As a spokesman for the Norwich Society says, we await further developments with bated breath....