Mixed retail picture in S Wales – JLL
More from JLL on its research into the South Wales property markets – today we look at its comments on the retail sector. The firm says the mixed messages in the retail sector – with some retailers reporting record results while others announce store closures and profit warnings – apply perhaps more to Wales than anywhere else in the UK, in view of the diversity of the retail offer “from one of the newest shopping centres, down to the smaller towns, all fighting for the same retail spend.”
The St Davids 2 retail scheme – known simply as “Davids” – in Cardiff, with 1.4m sq ft of retail space, went from strength to strength in 2010 and is now around 85% let by area, which JLL says is a real achievement in the current market. Given the flourishing retail climate in Cardiff, the firm says plans by Hammerson to redevelop the Parc Tawe retail park in Swansea must come to fruition soon in order to ensure that Swansea is not left behind.
In Newport, the council is now ready to begin searching once more for a development partner for the proposed leisure and retail scheme, but the market has in the meantime received a negative message from several large retailers who are pulling out of the city centre, potentially leaving some large holes in Commercial Street, JLL notes. The new 125,000 sq ft Tesco store at Risca, north of Newport, which opened at the end of last year, is one of the most significant property market transactions in the region in the past 12 months, it adds.
And in Carmarthen the new St Catherine’s Walk retail scheme is reported to have reached 75% occupancy – it has boosted the retail offer of the town and detracted from the retail offer of nearby towns such as Llanelli and Swansea, JLL notes.
