Discount designer fashion retailer TK Maxx and general merchandise retailer Argos have signed up to take space at the former Allders department store site on The Headrow in Leeds.

TK Maxx has taken a 49,000 sq ft (4,550 sq m) store, and Argos has secured a 25,000 sq ft (2,320 sq m) unit. They will join Sainsbury’s, which took a 17,000 sq ft (1,580 sq m) store last year.

Capital & Counties redeveloped the former Allders building and carved it up into four retail units. The remaining unit is 32,000 sq ft (2,970 sq m) and sits opposite the city’s main shopping street, Briggate, and adjacent to Primark.

Tom Cullen, director at Colliers CRE, which is the sole letting agent on the scheme, said: “Leeds is quite a tight city in terms of space, so we’ve managed to pull in some fantastic names and given them the large-format stores. There is huge development going on in Leeds, but most of it won’t be available for a few years.”

The units will be handed to retailers for fit-out in July, for openings in autumn. The redevelopment, comprising 335,590 sq ft (31,175 sq m) of space, gives retailers double-height frontages.

Elsewhere in Leeds, Hammerson and Town Centre Securities are redeveloping Eastgate Quarter and have signed John Lewis and Marks & Spencer. The scheme is set for completion in 2012.

Land Securities, which owns Leeds Shopping Plaza, and Caddick Developments, which owns the Trinity Quarter, have formed a joint venture to create Trinity Leeds – a£650 million scheme scheduled to open in 2010.

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