Ealing Broadway fights back

One year after Westfield opened its doors, Ealing Broadway celebrates success with unprecedented footfall and lettings activity.

Legal & General Property, has announced that it has added New Look to the line up at Ealing Broadway Shopping Centre's.  The recent deal completes a series of high profile retail lettings which has seen new high street fashion brands coming in on over a third of the retail space during the last 15 months.

In  spite of Westfield completing its first year of trading (30 October) and announcing a record 23 million visitors through the doors, Ealing Broadway has seen continuing increases in footfall over the period, with a rise of approximately 20% overall since the beginning of 2008. Not only is footfall growing, but the scheme forecasts to have had an estimated 15.5 million visitors by the year end, for a scheme which is only one- fifth of the size of Westfield.

According to National Benchmark Data, these statistics illustrate the undoubted success of the scheme in delivering growth in a difficult market as well as disproving speculation that the Centre would suffer on the opening of Westfield.  Ealing Broadway continues to dominate Ealing's shopping, with 96% of its local catchment using it.

Ealing Broadway comprises 316,500 sq ft, of which LGP owns approximately 280,000 sq ft, and is arranged into more than 75 units over two floors, fronting The Broadway and High Street.  As one of its mini anchor tenants, New Look has taken 12,143 sq ft on a new ten year lease.  The retail space formerly comprised four units in a prime pitch location within the centre of the mall and, following the successful planning consent for an extension to two of the units, last week, LGP is due to complete construction on the premises in late March 2010, ready for the store opening in June 2010. 

Over the past two years, the Property fund management platform that forms part of Legal & General Investment Management has let approximately 105,600 sq ft, representing over a third of its space and including the following:

River Island secured 8,825 sq ft and opened its store for trading 6 November
H&M took 15,165 sq ft and opened on 22 October 2009
Primark opened its 69,500 sq ft store in June 2008.

All tenants apart from River Island, which relocated and upsized from another smaller unit, are new to the Centre.

Helen Gordon, director of Legal & General Property, comments: "Ealing Broadway Shopping Centre has proved its enduring appeal to its affluent local catchment, servicing daily shopping needs with its popular high street affordable brands and essentials.

"The increase in footfall is testament to the scheme's strengths, the letting success and the impact of the active management. We repositioned the centre as a convenience shopping experience to complement the Westfield offer.  Using our depth of in-house asset management skills, we have brought in a range of strategies over the last three years thereby dramatically improving the centre's retail offer, re-locating big brands to larger more accessible units, improving the tenant mix, targeting and bringing in additional anchor tenants, introducing green lease clauses and reconfiguring space."

Built in 1984, in conjunction with Land Securities and the London Borough of Ealing, the scheme was fully refurbished in 2001/2002. 

As part of our continued commitment to creating a sustainable built environment, LGP has introduced various green lease clauses in its recent lettings.

CWM and Cushman & Wakefield advises LGP on all lettings at the centre and CBRE acted for New Look.