Schroder UK Real Estate Fund (‘SREF’) has secured three major lettings at King’s Mall Shopping Centre in Hammersmith, as the fund progresses with its substantial asset management strategy to transform the scheme into a new standout retail and leisure hub.
Fashion retailer New Look has signed a 20-year lease on a major new unit at the shopping centre, comprising over 10,000 sq ft. Two existing units, which formerly housed River Island and Starbucks, are currently being combined to accommodate the retailer, with a double-height frontage also being created across the new unit. New Look, which will become the scheme’s new anchor tenant, is expected to open to the public before Christmas this year.
Strengthening the scheme’s growing leisure offer, SREF has also signed a deal to bring Frame gym to King’s Mall on a 15-year lease. Frame, which was founded in March 2009, already has four sites across London in Shoreditch, Queen’s Park, Victoria and King’s Cross and was recently named ‘the number one gym in London’ by the London Evening Standard. The brand will now open its first gym in West London at King’s Mall, which will also include a health café and a Frame shop selling gym wear and accessories. Frame will comprise 5,315 sq ft set across two levels, the majority of which is current redundant basement space. This is in line with SREF’s strategy to create vibrant active space from that which is currently dormant.
Further adding to the evolving brand line up at King’s Mall, leading Italian cosmetics company, KIKO Milano, has concluded a deal with SREF for a 2,905 sq ft unit on a 10-year lease. Previously named as the ‘brand to watch’ by the Cosmopolitan Beauty Awards, KIKO was established and founded in 1997 by Percassi. The new store at King’s Mall, which has now opened to the public, stocks KIKO’s extensive range of professional make-up, skin care products and beauty accessories, along with its four limited edition product ranges.
Commenting on the deals, Harry Pickering, Investment Manager for SREF, said: “These latest signings demonstrate our commitment to providing quality, exciting amenities for those living and working in Hammersmith and the wider area. At the forefront of our ongoing enhancement strategy across our King’s Mall estate is the goal of creating a scheme which encourages people to live, work and play in the area, enjoying the unique lifestyle, retail and leisure brands available to them.”
SREF acquired the 340,000 sq ft Kings Mall Shopping Centre from the Matterhorn Palos Partnership in 2015 for £153 million as part of a portfolio of assets in Hammersmith. The fund has devised a significant asset management strategy for the whole estate. An extensive programme of works will be carried out across the shopping centre, with improvements made to the mall’s external frontage and internal communal areas. A new entrance to King’s Mall will also be delivered, removing the existing barriers to retailers’ facades. The fund’s ongoing leasing strategy is also set to significantly strengthen the mall’s tenant and leisure mix over the year ahead, whilst providing security of tenure to key existing tenants. Total capital expenditure by SREF at King’s Mall currently stands in excess of £10 million over the 18 months since acquisition.
A substantial internal refurbishment programme is also underway at One Lyric Square, the fund’s 87,000 sq ft office building adjoining the King’s Mall Shopping Centre, including works to repurpose a redundant rooftop plant to free up an additional 12,000 sq ft of extra office space.
