Council welcomes prospect of 400 new jobs to the city when East Street site is redeveloped

Southampton City Council has welcomed proposals by property owner Arcadian Estates, part of the London & Henley Property Group, to comprehensively redevelop the East Street Shopping Centre. The proposals will see the complete demolition of the obsolete centre and its replacement with an individually designed, purpose-built city centre Morrisons’ flagship food store.

The move will create 400 jobs as well as a new pedestrian access route from East Street to St Mary’s.

Arcadian Estates has retained urban regeneration specialist Centros to devise the food store scheme – which will include two floors of car parking above the new store and the re-establishment of an open pedestrian thoroughfare from East Street to Evans Street. Morrisons is already under contract to lease the new store, which is due to open in late 2013 or early 2014.

Councillor Royston Smith, Leader of Southampton City Council, said: “This is great news for Southampton. It will bring life to the area and 400 vital jobs to the city.

“One of our key requirements was to open up the link between St. Mary’s and the city centre, which is incorporated in Arcadian’s plans. This will create a higher footfall and ultimately bring more business to the whole area.

“It’s great to see that large brands continue to choose Southampton to expand their businesses.”

John De Stefano, Chairman of London & Henley Property Group, said: “London & Henley has been a long-term investor in Southampton and, in partnership with the City Council, we are delighted to be able to bring an exciting new project to a much-needed area of the city. This will not only provide a new food store and public car park with improved access, but will also enhance conditions at Capital House, a major adjoining office building owned by our Group.”

David Lewis, development director of Centros, said: “The East Street area is sorely in need of regeneration and we believe that recreating an open streetscape and providing a strong and complementary retail attraction at the St Mary’s end of the street is a solution that will successfully create a new eastern gateway, help to transform this part of the city centre and stimulate further regeneration.

“We are confident that we can bring this redevelopment forward and start construction work during 2012.”

Peter Foy, development executive for Morrisons said: “This is a great opportunity for Morrisons as we grow from national to nationwide. We are extremely keen to open more stores in the region. We operate at the heart of many communities and are looking forward to helping regenerate the area by bringing our full offer, incorporating Morrisons unique Market Street format of fresh food counters, excellent service and great value to East Street.”

The development will also include the provision of surface level parking for the Capital House office block, which will be refurbished during a subsequent phase of the overall project.

London & Henley anticipates being ready to submit a planning application later this year.

For more information:

Contact: Steve Bryson
Tel: 07970 639301 / 01242 269025
Email:steve@brysonpr.com

Alternatively:

Contact: Isabel Hokken, Media Officer at Southampton City Council
Tel: 023 8083 4672
Email:isabel.hokken@southampton.gov.uk