British Land buys a £67m slice of Plymouth city centre

British Land, the owner of Drake Circus, has bought New George Street and Royal Parade Estate in Plymouth city centre from M&G Real Estate.      

British Land has a unique opportunity to manage a broad slice of the city centre to create an even more accessible and attractive place for local people to shop, eat and be entertained. The company is now considering at length how the three ownerships can work most cohesively together.

The site is located between Drake Circus and British Land’s £40 million Drake Circus Leisure development where construction begins next year.

The 4.65 acre standalone site comprises 583,700 sq ft of shops, 12,000 sq ft of office space on the upper floors and 54 car parking spaces. The site is anchored by Debenhams and House of Fraser and other retailers include Tesco, TK Maxx, Flannels, Nando’s, HubBox and Costa.

Greg Lumley, Centre Manager for Drake Circus, said: “British Land’s further investment in Plymouth is great news. It’s always been a city they believe in and our success at Drake Circus over the last five years has given them the confidence to invest further.”

Leader of Plymouth City Council, Ian Bowyer added: “We are delighted that British Land continues to invest so significantly in Plymouth. This is a huge confidence boost for the city as it shows that the big hitters want to be part of Plymouth and our continuing success.

“The blocks are home to some great brands and a real draw to shoppers across the region. More importantly these shops and those within Drake Circus continue to offer permanent employment for hundreds of local people, which is great for their families and for the economy as a whole.”

John Duxbury, Head of Retail at M&G Real Estate commented: “As a business, we advocate proactive management of retail property to ensure it meets the needs of the community it serves and, with British Land’s wider ownerships in Plymouth, this sale will allow them to consider the city centre as a whole. With the capital from the sale, we will continue to reinvest in other parts of the UK, making positive contributions to other communities and delivering on our pipeline of development activity nationwide.”

Drake Circus recently celebrated its tenth birthday with events that brought together shoppers, the local community, retailers and staff. Recent new brand arrivals include White Stuff, Smiggle, Footasylum, Cath Kidston, Holland and Barrett More with Joules to follow soon.

Since opening in October 2006, Drake Circus has welcomed more than 176 million shoppers through its doors. The centre has also contributed £1.3 billion to the Plymouth economy and created 1,750 jobs for local people.
             
The 100,000 sq ft Drake Circus Leisure scheme is due to open in 2019. The scheme comprises a 12 screen Cineworld cinema and 14 restaurants. The development will create 350 permanent jobs for local people, in addition to a number of temporary construction jobs, and will be a great benefit to the whole city’s night time economy.