The opening of the extension to the St David’s centre in Cardiff may have coincided with the economic downturn but the scheme will still invigorate the city, says Tim Danaher.

Cardiff.jpg

When the extension to Cardiff’s St David’s centre opened yesterday, it was the culmination of 10 years’ work by developers Capital Shopping Centres (CSC) and Land Securities. Their misfortune was that by the time that work on the scheme neared completion, the retail property market was at its lowest ebb for a decade.

Cardiff is the biggest shopping centre opening of the year, and with the exception of Westfield’s scheme in Stratford, is the last of the noughties shopping centre development boom. After a decade when we’ve become used to shopping centres opening fully let, it’s inevitable that a lot of the talk around the opening of Cardiff is going to be around the number of units not open and trading on day one. The sight of a major new centre opening only 70% let will serve as a stark reminder of just how rapidly the market for space has deteriorated.

While realistic and honest about the challenges they have faced, the developers are looking on the bright side, confident that even at opening day the scheme will deliver a real improvement in choice for the shoppers of the Welsh capital. There were due to be over 50 retail and catering units trading on opening day, with more than half of the retailers making their debut in both Cardiff and Wales as a whole.

Timing is everything

CSC retail and leasing director Jo Skilton says the issue with lettings has never been Cardiff but with the broader challenges in the market. “The economy dictated the initial slow uptake. Given what’s been happening, people having been saying let’s batten down the hatches. But we’ve never had to oversell Cardiff.”

Several retailers that have recently taken space or are still in talks won’t have been ready for yesterday’s opening day. While far from ideal, it does create an opportunity for the developers to create excitement around a second wave of openings pre-Christmas, by when another 30 units should open, and a third in the new year.

“There’s an opportunity to create a buzz around the next phases of openings,” says Skilton. In addition to the openings announced so far, which include H&M and New Look, giant American brands Apple and Hollister are also believed to have secured stores in the scheme, although the developers refused to confirm this.

That said, the developers have needed to manage expectations among local shoppers and have worked closely with the local media in the Welsh capital to ensure that shoppers know what will be there from the outset.

And there is plenty to get them excited, with the scheme giving a real retail heart to a city where much of the retail offer was tired and which lacked a real sense of having a centre. The site was previously occupied by an old Toys R Us store and some car parks. But it’s a prime site between the city’s station and leisure pitch of St Anne’s Street – also home to the city’s shopping landmark, House of Fraser’s Howells store – and the existing high street, Queen Street.

The highlight of the scheme is unquestionably a John Lewis store that pushes the boundaries of what could be expected from the department store, particularly in fashion with a bold, brand-led storefit (see last week’s issue for a full review). The John Lewis store sits in a separate building from the main centre but is linked by bridge at first floor level that leads into the main upper mall of the shopping centre.

And there are some other big unit shops ranging up to 23,000 sq ft in size. On a visit last week Superdry-owner Cult Clothing’s store stood out, while New Look and the Disney Store also appear to have moved their shopfits on for the new project. Double-height frontages on the upper level help give the predominantly fashion stores there a real presence, and the planning of the units gives some strong adjacencies – for example jewellers Fraser Hart, Goldsmiths and Beaverbrooks occupy three of the corners at the main junction of walkways on the lower level.

Spaced out

The design of the mall itself is not radical and lets the shops do the talking, but what it does do is give a pleasing feeling of space and light with a high curved ceiling that is glazed to allow lots of light in. Above, there are 304 flats; just as challenging to sell as the shops have been to let given the challenges in the mortgage market. A new public library, which has won awards for its architecture, has also been built as part of the Section 106 agreement to get planning permission for the scheme.

The mall itself follows a gentle curve round from the John Lewis store at the southern end to link in to the existing St David’s centre to the north. Although the new part of the scheme has been dubbed St David’s 2 throughout the development programme, that tag has been dropped and the developers are committed to ensuring the existing centre doesn’t get left behind. The older part of the centre, which was built in 1982 and is anchored by Marks & Spencer and Debenhams – which has taken some extra space in the extension – has been refurbished. Only a couple of tenants, such as Sports Direct, are relocating into the new part of the scheme.

The development is also designed to link in with the city’s traditional cityscape, with side entrances linking up with the city’s historic network of arcades. Some stores such as Reiss, face outwards into The Hayes rather than into the centre itself. Others, like H&M – which has a three-storey store – are double fronted with both street and shopping centre entrances.

The imminent arrival of the new scheme has had the effect of shaking up the city’s existing retail scene. The most notable change has been the refurbishment and rebranding of the 144-year-old Howells department store, to trade under the name of its parent company House of Fraser, as it seeks to retain its place as the city’s leading department store in the face of a concerted charge from John Lewis.

There is certainly a retail catchment there for the taking. Cardiff dominates the Welsh shopping scene, which has few other major attractions for shoppers, and on a visit last week John Lewis was clearly attracting affluent older shoppers taking a day out. The queue in its espresso bar was 20 minutes long at 10.30am on a Tuesday morning and the store appears to be trading very strongly. If this is a sign of what lies ahead for the rest of the centre, it will do very well.

The shopper base in the main centre will be younger, but the hope is it will increase visits from shoppers from across south and mid-Wales and it should reduce leakage of shoppers over the Severn Bridge to Bristol, the nearest competing centre of any size. According to Experian figures quoted by the developers, the completion of St David’s will propel the city to eighth in the UK retail rankings.

Incentives to take space have been available and in the circumstances are likely to have been generous but Skilton insists “we haven’t been throwing money at retailers”. The development has brought together two of the biggest developers in retail property in an unusual joint venture arrangement, by which the two pooled together their landholdings in the area to create the ideal scheme.

It has been one of the more challenging schemes of recent years but both developers insist it has worked well, with a clear division of labour between the two. CSC has overseen the leasing and marketing while Land Securities has managed the construction. On completion it is intended to hold the scheme in the joint venture for the foreseeable future, and there will remain more work to do to complete the leasing process.

It won’t have been the most successful launch of a new centre ever in terms of leasing, but the scheme will nevertheless really up Cardiff’s previously humdrum retail offer and give the city a retail core it was lacking. In any case, shopping centre development is a long-term game. As Skilton points out, CSC opened Lakeside with a lot of empty units too. And that worked out in the end. St David’s is likely to as well.