Capital & Regional and Drum Property Group have outlined their plans to remodel the St Stephen’s Lane entrance at the Buttermarket shopping centre in Ipswich.
The joint-owners have submitted a planning application to Ipswich Borough Council to modernise the entrance, creating a more permeable link between the centre and Arras Square. The reconfigured entrance will also allow increased natural light into the mall and create new external seating.
In November Capital & Regional and Drum Property Group announced that Empire will operate a 12 screen cinema complex and Pure Gym will open a new facility at Buttermarket. The £35 million redevelopment will also deliver six new restaurants to complement the centre’s existing retail offer, and include an extensive refurbishment of the interior.
Capital & Regional, the specialist shopping centre REIT, and privately owned developer and investor Drum Property Group, acquired Buttermarket for £9.2 million in March.
Hugh Scott-Barrett, Chief Executive, Capital & Regional said: “This is another important step in the transformation of Buttermarket. It has always been our intention to remodel the St Stephen’s Lane entrance in order to better integrate the scheme with Arras Square, which we intend to re-establish as a popular meeting place.”
Capital & Regional owns a portfolio of in-town community shopping centres, comprising six Mall shopping centres in Blackburn, Camberley, Luton, Maidstone, Walthamstow and Wood Green and a 20% joint venture interest in the Kingfisher Centre in Redditch. These centres consist of 800 retail units and attract 1.6 million shopping visits each week.
Drum Property Group is a privately owned real estate development and investment business. Drum currently has projects under development with an end value in excess of £1 billion, in addition to owning and managing an extensive existing residential and commercial investment portfolio.
