Capital & Regional Regulatory News (CAL)

2 Aug 2005 12:54

Capital & Regional plc02 August 2005 2 August 2005 CAPITAL & REGIONAL PLC: THE MALL PROPOSES £45m BLACKBURN DEVELOPMENT Capital & Regional plc, the co-investing property asset manager, today announcesthat The Mall Fund has submitted a planning application to Blackburn with DarwenBorough Council for a £45m, 104,000 sq ft retail extension to The MallBlackburn. As part of The Mall's drive to enhance and improve the shoppingcentre, units facing Lord Square, Church Street and Ainsworth Street will bereplaced with a modern extension, which will provide over 20 new stores and over300 new car parking spaces. The new scheme creates over 100,000 sq ft of new retail floor space, and oncecompleted The Mall Blackburn will total some 639,000 sq ft. 20 new shops areproposed for the main upper ground level with access from extended malls leadingto a new anchor store around a 3-storey glazed atrium. The new shops will rangein size from 1,000 to 43,000 sq ft and configuration is extremely flexible toprovide a range of opportunities for both local and national retailers. There is also additional space for one or two new large retailers on the lowerground floor, accessed from both the new atrium within the shopping centre aswell as having direct access from Church Street and Ainsworth Street. There isalso space for up to 4 new bars or restaurants in the remainder of the lowerground floor, which also fronts onto Church Street. The development will also include the refurbishment of the existing shoppingcentre to provide new Mall branded toilets, 'Ask Me' Point, What's On boards,Mall seating and Mall TV. Ken Ford, Chief Executive of The Mall, comments: "This is a very exciting time for Blackburn - we have a long-term commitment tothe town and are very pleased to announce our plans to enhance and expand retailfacilities at The Mall Blackburn for our customers. We have been workingextremely closely with the Council over many months and we believe our plans arecomplementary to the emerging Blackburn Masterplan which is set to revitalisethe town centre and ensure Blackburn's status as one of the key locations forbusiness, shopping and leisure in the North West. "Our development will provide a dramatic improvement to the existing towncentre, providing opportunities for new, large retailers and cafe/bar operatorswho will significantly boost The Mall's retail mix and bring increased life andvitality to Church Street and Ainsworth Street." Kate Hollern, Leader of Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council, comments: "We welcome these proposals from The Mall. Blackburn town centre is booming.These next few years are going to witness significant improvements to bothBlackburn and Darwen, not just to the retail and leisure facilities on offer,but also to the infrastructure and community as a whole. The council took alonger term position on Blackburn town centre. The excellent plans announcedtoday, which are integral to the on-going master planning, show just howimportant it was not to opt for an easier short-term plan." Subject to receiving approval for these proposals, The Mall hopes to commenceconstruction in Spring/Summer 2006 and have the extension open for trading inSpring 2008. - ends - Notes to editors: About Capital & Regional plc Capital & Regional is the co-investing asset manager which specialises in towncentre shopping centres, out of town retail parks, and urban entertainmentcomplexes. Capital & Regional founded the Mall and Junction Funds in conjunction withMorley Fund Management. It also founded the X-Leisure fund with HermesInvestment Management Limited, and has a number of other joint ventures anddevelopments. Its shares are quoted on the London Stock Exchange. For further information see www.capreg.com About The Mall The Mall is the leading owner and operator of community shopping centres in theUK. The Mall has assets of £2.3 billion in 22 shopping centres and has plans togrow assets to 30 centres, establishing The Mall as the UK's community shoppingcentre brand. Capital & Regional and Morley Fund Management set up The MallFund in 2002. For further information see www.themall.co.uk - ENDS - For further information: The Mall:Ken Ford, Chief Executive The Mall Tel. 020 7932 8000 Redwood Consulting:Paul Haines/Liz D'Oliveira Tel: 020 7224 4300 gcg hudson sandlerMichael Sandler / James Benjamin Tel: 020 7796 4133 This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange