Maidenhead’s proposed new town centre is closer to a factory outlet than a traditional shopping centre according to developer Rob Tincknell.
As we reported June 11, Tikehau Capital and Areli Real Estate have submitted plans for the Nicholson Quarter to replace the 1970s Nicholson’s Centre. The new plans include more than 60 new shop/restaurant units, 327,000 sq ft of offices, more than 650 homes and 1.5 acres of new public realm.
In the latest Thames Tap podcast, Mr Tincknell, partner of Areli Real Estate, says what he is trying to do at Maidenhead has not been done before and the opportunity to get it right must not be missed.
In conversation with UK Property Forums managing director, Matthew Battle, he said the bulk of the security in the development will be from the offices and residential units so that the retail can be what people want.
He went on: “It’s probably more similar to a factory outlet centre than it is to a traditional shopping centre. In a traditional shopping centre the landlord is going to be focussed more upon the size of the company signing the lease, the length of the lease, the terms and squeezing as much rent out of them as possible.
“We are going to be focussed on the tenant mix, making sure that our collection of retailers, and the cocktail of uses that we bring together, really fires up the imagination.
“That’s what will draw people back, whether it be a local guy making the most amazing gourmet sausages or somebody else, a hardware store, a local fishmongers or somebody selling homemade jumpers.”
Those types of retailers, he said, were the sort not easily replicated on the internet.
He added: “You go, you’ve got some money in your pocket and you have no idea what you’re going to come back with. And that’s similar to the factory outlet model.”
Listen to the full podcast at:
© Thames Tap No 216 (powered by ukpropertyforums.com)
